Part I: Inglourious Nerfherders
by PLPwriter
Summary: 30 years after the fall of the Empire, a Commodore in the Imperial Remnant grows tired of watching The First Order grow, unimpeded by the New Republic or the Empire. To knock them down a peg, she recruits a group of independent agents to journey to their territory and terrorize them. They are skilled, brutal, and all-too happy to give the First Order a taste of their own medicine.


INGLOURIOUS NERFHERDERS

Chapter I: Scruffy Nerf Herder with a Club

Maven adjusted the hood of her cloak as she entered the dark, seedy watering hole. From the intelligence she'd gathered on the city beforehand, it seemed to her that 'The Baron's Head', as it was so colloquially known, was a place that tended to cater to those that minded their own businesses. Much like the rest of the Fallen City, it had become something of a hot-spot for mercenaries, smugglers and bounty hunters after the Empire was forced to pull out.

In the 20 years since, many independent parties had moved in and out of the Government House tower at the center of the city, but it had eventually been so badly damaged during the many skirmishes for faux control of the city, that the entire tower had been abandoned, except by vagrants that often squatted in the basements, and the one secure corner of the tower on the north side, where a retired Bounty Hunter had staked a claim, and used the last of his meager wares to open the cantina that Maven currently stood inside of.

She looked around, and the décor certainly supported the fact that it had once been an Imperial base; featuring battered, faded Stormtrooper helmets, armor pieces, and Imperial droid parts arranged into various pieces of crude 'art'. Maven scoffed at the irritating display, not for the first time finding herself pining for the glory days… She pushed these thoughts out of her mind though, because she was there to accomplish a specific task.

She reached out with The Force, her eyes glazing over as she searched the room. Her consciousness weaved through the crowded space, lightly tapping those beings she encountered as her psychic tendrils sought out her intended target. The only visual clue she had as to his identity was a very outdated dossier and a holo image of his Stormtrooper ID. In the image, he was a very young, bright-eyed Corellian with aH clean-cut appearance, hair well-trimmed, a strong jawline, and from what Maven had read, skills to back up the look of unwavering confidence that his eyes suggested, even in the holo image. However, two hard decades have a way of changing people… Inside and out. Maven once again pushed that thought out of her mind before it looped back around to herself… Memories could be a dangerous and distracting thing.

There.

She tilted her head toward something one of her tendrils had encountered, and focused on it a bit more, getting a better read on the being she was now regarding with interest. The energy was… dark. Not malicious, not what could be called 'evil', just an air of negativity that seemed to radiate off him. She let the other psychic tendrils fade, solely focusing on this single being now, and made her way through the room, weaving through the various patrons and staff that she passed, following the same trail her invisible tendril had. She arrived within a few feet of her subject, and returned to her physical senses. There, at the table ahead, sat a tall, broad-shouldered man. He had long, unkempt hair that hung down to his neck, and had gray streaks covering his temples, as well as an unshaven layer of facial hair over what seemed to be a strong jawline. He also had a long scar that ran from above his left eye, down through the edge of his eyebrow, where it vanished, and then re-appeared below his eye, and over his left cheek bone.

Could this really be the man she'd come there for?

He sat at a corner booth, staring at the glowlamp at the center of the table, his right side facing Maven as she made her way toward the table. He wore what looked like a very old, battered black flightsuit, the pocket placement and seams instantly told Maven it was an old TIE fighter uniform, even without seeing the patch locations on the shoulders, which were covered by a high-waisted flight jacket. It was dark green, with ridged lines running up the outside of the sleeves to the shoulders, a design favored by the early Rebel Alliance Intelligence divisions, and had eventually been adopted by various smuggler groups who had come into possession of the surplus supplies. She clocked a belt slung around his hips, with a drop-down holster secured against his right thigh, containing a BlasTech A-280 blaster pistol, and though she couldn't see them, she was sure he carried other weapons. Finally, she saw a backpack on the seat next to him, a section of old, battered Stormtrooper back-plate armor secured to the outside of the pack, with a matching trooper bicep cuff fixed to the side, and a very old, heavily-weathered E-11 blaster rifle stowed inside the cuff as if it was a holster. On the opposite side of the pack, an unfamiliar metal object was lashed to the frame. It looked like it had vibro tech incorporated into it, but she saw no blades or spikes to implicate an axe or club.

Without looking up, a gruff, yet quiet voice suddenly greeted her, even before she'd made her presence known.

"Are you here to kill me?" He inquired. "Because that's not going to go well for you…"

She smirked in amusement at his survival skills, glad to know they were still honed. Maven approached, sliding into the seat across from him at the table without invitation. She leaned back, calm and relaxed.

"If I were here to kill you, you would not have had time to ask that question…" She said.

He shrugged. "We'll agree to disagree on that." He said. "What do you want?"

She eyed him carefully. "Are you Davin Creel?" She asked.

"No." He lied.

She knew it was a lie, in spite of the fact that, had it been anyone else inquiring from her seat, his Sabacc face would have betrayed nothing of the sort. Nevertheless, it WAS her seated there, and she knew she'd found the man she was looking for.

"Well, if you WERE Davin Creel…" She began, crossing her legs beneath the table, but keeping her hood up. "I would have an offer for you."

The click was almost inaudible, but her highly-tuned senses picked it up, even over the music and voice cacophony that made up the rest of the room. She flicked her eyes down to the edge of the table, and noticed that his right arm had moved off the table, and was now near his hip, underneath the table. She'd been so focused on his facial reactions, deciphering the lie, that she hadn't seen him slip his hand off, and pull his blaster from the holster.

He was good.

"You won't be needing that." She said, nodding her head to the blaster he'd pulled. "It is unlikely you would be able to make much use of it, regardless."

"Again…" He said, looking up at her for the first time. "We'll agree to disagree."

His eyes matched the darkness she'd sensed off him when she'd reached out with The Force during her initial search. There was pain, loss, and though a flicker of an ember still lingered there somewhere… The confident fire of his Stormtrooper ID holo was long gone. That disappointed her.

"I recommend hearing me out on this subject." Maven said, a hint of warning in her tone.

Davin's hand suddenly rose up from beneath the table and, in a move that surprised Maven, the grip of his blaster slapped down on the table top as he leveled it directly at her, no subterfuge attempted anymore.

"I don't take recommendations from strangers in hoods…" He said, a slight increase in the embers in his eyes following his words. "Just a personal motto."

She smirked again, and reached out with The Force once more. Her psychic tendrils moved to the blaster in his hand and explored it, confirming that it was indeed loaded. She then moved to his mind, seeing if he had plans to use it on her. Suddenly though, her invisible reach struck an equally invisible wall, and sent a shudder through her mind and body. She furrowed her brows slightly, and pushed once more, but it yielded the same result.

It was Davin's turn to smirk, and he tapped his index finger against the small, orb-shaped amulet hanging from his neck. The object was small, about the size of an eyeball, and he'd apparently reached up to touch a small button attached to it when Maven had looked at his blaster hand thumping onto the table.

"Sorry… but you're not gonna be rooting around in my head." He said, leaning back in his seat, drawing the weapon back across the surface of the table with him. "At least, not with The Force…"

Maven was impressed. He was not a Force-user; that much she had been able to tell from her initial exploration of him, but he clearly had experience dealing those that could use it. She wasn't sure exactly what the object inside his amulet was, but it somehow had managed to shield him from her Force abilities… Even now, as she tried to probe him once more, she found nothing. As if an empty pocket of existence was there, in the shape of the man who had been seated across from her. She could see him, she knew he was there, and yet somehow… she felt nothing.

"Interesting…" She said.

"Cut the chatter." Davin said. "Get up and leave, or I'll lay you out right here."

"As much as I appreciate your colorful threats, Mr. Creel… I'm afraid I'll have to remove the cause for them, and inform you that, at his moment, I mean you no harm."

He sighed. "Yeah, I've heard that one before, sister…" He said, the blaster still leveled at her. "I'm not interested in whatever you're selling."

A grin split across her lips, showing teeth this time. "And what if I was offering you the chance to engage agents of The First Order?"

There was a noticeable change in his demeanor instantly. Even without being able to sense him, her observations of his body language told her all she needed to know… The suggestion had found its mark. He stared at her for some time, narrowing his eyes as their gazes locked, neither wavering from the other. Finally, he un-cocked the blaster, and turned it, laying his hand sideways on the table, still gripping the blaster, but not pointing it at her anymore.

"What are you?" He asked pointedly. "Jedi? Dark Jedi? Nightsister? Knight of Ren?" He suggested, then leaned forward. "Or are you one of those delusional 'I'm a Sith' wannabees?"

Maven chuckled, her grin not faltering. "I don't consider The Force to be anything except what it is." She explained. "The Force comes from nature, and as nothing in nature has a Dark or a Light side… I do not believe The Force has either."

Davin regarded her a moment, then shrugged, and downed the last of his drink, cringing at the burn it clearly caused going down his throat. He slid the glass away from himself, still keeping a grip on his blaster, though it continued to point away from her.

"I'm listening." He said.

She leaned forward, slowly, placing her hands in front of her, interlocking her fingers. As she was about to make her offer though, something pinged in her mind, and she hesitated. Her eyes flicked to her left, toward the center of the room, and she quickly located the cause of the warning she'd received…

They were being watched.

Her blood boiled in her veins as she realized she'd been followed. While it was entirely possible for her to miss things, she loathed it when her observational abilities failed her.

"Lemme guess…" Davin said, clearly noticing her distraction. "Uninvited guest?"

She nodded. "Perhaps we should relocate for the rest of our discussion…"

Davin shook his head, and stood up, a bit unsteady on his feet due to the beverages he'd clearly been consuming since before her arrival.

"See… When someone engages in, what the galactic government calls illegal activities, but what I call a man trying to make a living for himself and his family selling legally-obtained spice on the black market…" He said, holstering his blaster, and picking up his backpack. "It behooves ones-self to keep his wits about him."

Maven eyed him, but kept part of her focus on the other figure in the bar, fixated on Davin's movements now. "I fail to see the connection to our current circumstance."

Davin nodded. "Long story short; when something sounds too good to be true, chances are… It aint true. You walk in with tales of being able to take some shots at First Order sleemos, and I'm just supposed to jump onboard. Then there's a mystery man watching us, and I'm supposed to follow you to some other location…"

Behind Davin, on the opposite side of the bar from them, the individual that Maven had sensed suddenly stood up, and tried to casually make a beeline for the exit.

"I, however…" Davin said, turning. "Believe in direct approaches."

He gripped the metallic object lashed to the side of his backpack, yanked it free of its securing straps, and hurled it across the space, where it collided solidly with the fleeing spy. The individual let out a pained yelp, and struck the ground a moment after Davin's unusual weapon struck them.

The patrons of the bar went silent, and all eyes turned to either the one who'd been hit, or to Davin, who'd hit him. The bartender looked like he was about to intervene, but Davin shot him a look that indicated familiarity, and he remained silent. It was respect, not fear though, which told Maven more about Davin's current standing in this establishment.

Davin pulled his blaster out once more, and stalked over to the individual, who rolled over onto his back, revealing himself to be a human male. He leveled a small hold-out blaster at Davin, who kicked the man's wrist aggressively, and his arm flung out to the side, but still gripped the weapon. Maven's foot came down hard on the man's wrist, pinning it, and the weapon, to the floor.

Davin pointed the blaster at the man on the floor's face.

"Hi." He said. "I'm Davin. What can I do for you?"

Maven eyed the figure on the ground as his eyes darted from her to Davin quickly. He looked far too clean-cut to be a smuggler or bounty hunter… Far too young to be a mercenary of any sort of effectiveness close to what it would require to follow her unnoticed…

"He works for The First Order." She said simply.

Davin looked at Maven, and she saw that fire in his eyes build up even more. He looked back down at the man on the floor, and slowly crouched beside him, sticking the barrel of his blaster into the other's chin, earning a painful cringe from the First Order agent.

"That true, slag?" He asked, getting very close to the downed man. "You work for those murderers?"

He strained against the blaster, shooting Maven a glare, but then looked at Davin out of the corner of his eye, unable to turn his face to meet his.

"No." He lied. "I don't know what she's talking about… I only pulled a blaster to defend myself!"

"Oh." Davin said, holstering his blaster. "Well, no harm done then…"

He pulled the man up from the floor, re-collecting the metallic thing he'd thrown at him as he did. The man eyed Davin warily, and Maven's muscles coiled, waiting for an attack of some kind, and unsure of what Davin's game was. Davin looked at Maven and shrugged.

"He says he doesn't work for The First Order." He said simply. "Clearly a misunderstanding on our part."

Maven remained silent.

"Yeah…" The agent said, backing away from Davin, who held him in place by the shoulder. "I'm sorry I eavesdropped… I'll just be going."

"Wait wait…" Davin said, holding up the object in his hand. "Lemme tell you something first." He insisted, turning it over in his grip. "You ever seen one of these before?"

The agent shook his head.

"This…" Davin began. "Is a blazeball bat." The sport kinda faded into obscurity a long time ago, but I used to LOVE it growing up, back on Corellia."

Maven was beginning to tire of this unnecessary antic, but nevertheless, she observed, learning all she could from it.

"See, this one belonged to my son." Davin said, leading the Agent out the door he'd tried to go for initially.

Maven followed the two as they stepped out into the street, noting that many of the patrons began moving to the front of the building, peering out the mostly covered portholes that viewed the street. Davin held the shoulder of the agent firmly, and he walked with him as if they were friends, but as Maven probed the agent with The Force, she sensed that he had a growing sense of unease from Davin's words.

"My son was seven years old when I first made this thing for him." Davin explained. "The vibro tech is a bit hard to use properly, so I waited until it would be safe…"

The Agent began looking to Maven, as though she would provide some clue as to what was happening, but she gave him nothing.

"My son wasn't very good with it, which was fine by me, it was just something fun we could do together. Didn't matter if he was great at it, as long as he had fun DOING it, right?"

"Y-Yes…" The agent said.

"Good man." Davin said, nodding, and tapping the bat against the agent's chest.

They'd reached the center of the street by this point, and Davin turned, facing the agent, leaning in to talk to him closer. He was clearly inebriated, and his words slurred a bit as he spoke, a bit too loudly, to the other man.

"But! You see one day, when we were playing, I could tell he got a bit frustrated that he could never hit the ball. Then, the next pitch I made, without anyone telling him to, he just… shut his eyes." Davin continued. "Then, just like that, POP!" He said, snapping his fingers. "He nails it! Dead-on. Sends the thing right out of the yard, it goes over the fence, and scares the nerfs something fierce. If I hadn't been so shocked, I'd have been laughing my head off…"

Maven began to get the picture now, and was no longer impatient with Davin's story… She eased back, and let him take his time.

"See, my wife wasn't shocked… She could use The Force." Davin said, narrowing his eyes at the agent in front of him. "She wasn't a Jedi or anything, never got any formal training… Was always too scared of her abilities to use it that way, and we figured that our kids might have the gift… My boy though, wow… he was so excited." Davin stepped back, keeping the bat pointed at the other man's chest, preventing him from moving. "He blindfolded himself, and hit the ball every single time… Just on instinct!" Davin laughed, but then Maven saw the darkness return to his eyes and his smile faded. "He begged us to get him into Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy. My wife was a bit nervous about it, but we agreed that if it was what he wanted… We couldn't deny him the shot."

The agent backed up a step, and Davin moved with him. "We sent a communication to the Academy, and were told to expect a response within a few months. I wasn't there when the response came, because I had to go on a delivery run. One day though, on a spice freighter, I suddenly SAW it in my mind… My son running toward a ship that was landing… He thought it was someone from the Academy… Maybe Luke Skywalker himself, right?"

The agent stumbled and fell onto his backside, leaning back on his hands, staring up at Davin in terror as Davin stood over him, the bat still pointed directly at him.

"It wasn't though… It was a red blade." Davin said darkly. "He took our boy. He took my wife. He took our daughter." He continued, his voice faltering a bit on the last word. "She couldn't even TALK yet, but he took her anyway…"

Davin's eyes welled-up a bit, and Maven could sense, even without The Force, that this was the source of all she'd felt from him before.

"Well, I searched for months…" Davin said, turning away from the agent on the ground and walking a few paces away. "But, as you probably know, nobody knows where the First Order's little 'work camps' are…"

The agent slowly got to his feet, but beyond that, didn't do much else, as he saw Maven glaring at him. He froze.

"On your knees…" Davin said.

The agent's eyes snapped back to Davin, still standing with his back to the agent. "What?" The agent asked.

Davin turned, drew his blaster, and shot the man in the leg. The shot burned into his shin, and knocked his foot out from under him. The agent cried out in pain, clutching his leg as it bled, and slowly managed to do as he was told, bringing his other leg down, until he was kneeling on both knees. He trembled, but straightened-up eventually, and Maven recognized the Imperial training leaking through. He was trying to keep his head, but it wasn't working very well… It was based on Imperial training… but it was decidedly inferior fortitude.

Davin holstered his blaster once more, and stalked over to the kneeling man, crouching to be at eye level with him, resting his weight on the bat as he did.

"Who sent you?" He asked.

The agent said nothing. Davin rolled his eyes, and reached for his blaster once more.

"The First Order!" The agent said, holding out his hands defensively.

Davin nodded, leaving his weapon holstered. "Why?" He asked.

The agent looked at Maven, then back at Davin. "We've been watching her for awhile…" He said. "She… Well… Command has been waiting for her to cause trouble."

Davin nodded again, glancing back at Maven. "That sound right?" He asked.

Maven nodded. "That seems like something they would do…" She said. "I have not been quite so accommodating to representatives of The Order when they've come calling on the Remnant Council…"

Davin looked back at the agent. "You know who I am?"

The agent looked puzzled. "You said your name was Davin…"

Davin sighed. "I mean did you know BEFORE…?" He asked. The agent shook his head, and Davin nodded a bit. "I see…"

Davin looked at the ground for a time. Maven knew she could pry all this information from the agent if she so desired, but the display playing out before her was all-too-informative, both for the First Order's agents' capabilities, as well as Davin's ruthlessness, which was the entire reason for seeking him out in the first place.

Davin looked up at the agent again, then stood up. "So, I spent months looking for my wife and children…" He said, continuing his story. "Trying to find a clue as to where the camps were. Never found anything though… See, I've never been able to use The Force like a Jedi." He explained. "I could feel it. I could speak to it. It could speak to me… It could guide me like anyone else who cares to listen." He trailed off, glaring down at the agent before him. "One day though, I felt something…" He continued, tapping his chest. "My wife desperately was calling out for help… Using those abilities she'd turned away from for so long… I felt her die. I felt my son die too, and at that moment I utterly rejected The Force. I haven't spoken to it since." He said, then turned, facing Maven. "So. I'm not really sure how The Force would feel about this…"

With that, he suddenly gripped the vibro-bat with both hands, arched it up over his shoulder, and swung as hard as he could. The durasteel surface of the makeshift weapon collided with the First Order Agent's head, knocking him off his knees, onto the broken street. He cried out in pain, but it was clear that he had been dazed by the hit. Davin waited a moment, letting him recover his wits as much as he could, and try to push himself up. Then he raised the bat, and brought it down again. And again. And again. It struck the agent's head, shoulders and chest over and over, earning a horror-filled shriek of pain for the first few times, but then just wet thuds, and Davin's grunting were all that could be heard. Eventually, Davin stopped.

Panting from the exertion, Davin stepped back from the pulped form of the First Order scum on the ground. The other residents of the area had begun cheering him on after the first swing, whether for a wanton love of violence, or a hatred of the loathed First Order itself, it didn't matter. Davin wiped the bat off on the disguise the agent had been wearing, and pulled a very large Vibroblade from his belt, which had been hidden beneath his jacket.

"So…" He said, crouching by the body, and throwing a glance to Maven. "Start talking…"

As she watched, he began carving the something into what remained of the agent's forehead.

"I do believe I've found the right man…" She said with amusement.

Chapter II: Hunters and Gatherers

24 hours had passed since the very public and very brutal killing of the First Order Agent, and the Fallen City seemed to have forgotten it already. That would soon change though, as a distinctive, black transport ship came in for a landing at the spaceport, which had once been the Imperial docking depot for the entire base, but was now simply used as a glorified parking lot for those patronizing the Baron's Head, and few other seedy establishments that had taken up residence within the perimeter of the former base.

The ship touched down, and there was a hissing discharge of de-pressurization before the ramp lowered down to the ground beneath it. The vessel resembled the Lambda-Class shuttles that were once used by the Empire, but this was a decidedly more updated model, with more wicked-looking edges to it, and with an imposing black paint job.

The figure that disembarked the shuttle wore all black, head and shoulders shrouded in a cloak, face masked by some kind of helmet, but none could see the details of it in the fading evening light on Sulon. Any who witnessed the disembarkment soon abandoned any fleeting thoughts of robbery or scavenging of the ship as soon as they saw its owner. It wasn't simply his physical appearance, there was something that seemed to radiate off him, something imposing… Something deadly.

He ignored the beings around him, and stalked across the landing platforms toward the ramp which led down to the main level of the old base, to the makeshift marketplace that had been erected between the unoccupied government house tower remains, and the edge of the former security wall. The mysterious figure's shoulders were raised, his head hunched, as if he was hunting something. His head moved from side to side, as if scanning his surroundings, and a bizarre, eerie sound emitted from the mask he wore, a filtered, robotic sound that could almost be described as 'sniffing'.

Finally, the figure came upon the Baron's Head, which was just as populated as the previous night, and those lingering outside the bar quickly took note of the newcomer. Some of the tougher, more hard-nosed of the patrons, bounty hunters or mercs, sized the figure up, trying to gauge where he'd come from, what he was doing, and most importantly, if they could take him out if need be. From what could be seen, he carried no visible weapons, nothing in his hands, nothing strapped to his side, or slung on his back… He just stalked through the streets like a ghoul on the prowl.

The man in black's path took him to the side of the cantina, down a small alleyway, which had originally been an access walkway to the maintenance station of the government house. The masked man stopped suddenly, his head lolling to the side as he sniffed, and then shot to the right quickly, focusing on the pile of refuse next to an overflowing trash compactor access port. It had clearly stopped functioning long ago, so the residents of the Fallen City had taken to simply dumping their broken belongings in piles all along the alley. He shoved aside a non-functional astromech droid, and it fell to the ground with a loud crash, its dome toppling off as it hit. There, beneath the refuse, was the corpse of the First Order agent.

The masked figure cocked his head to the side, making that sniffing sound a few more times, then leaned in closer, brushing aside the blood-matted hair covering the forehead, to reveal a crudely carved shape in the flesh there.

It was a nerf skull.

The masked man's head twitched, and his mask emitted a brief, distorted growling sound as he recognized it. He then let the agent's hair fall back into place, and stood upright, reaching for a comm link on his belt. Before he could touch it though, his head snapped to the side, toward the entrance to the alley, where several men in old, patch-together armor had appeared. There were four of them, walking in a line, and they were all armed. The two on the outermost edges carried blaster rifles with Tibana gas canister attachments on the barrels, signifying they'd been rigged for more deadly capability. The two on the interior of the line of men carried large caliber blaster pistols, with similar rigging done to them. The mods were illegal, and that, along with their patch-together armor suggested that they were pirates or low-rent mercenaries, as smugglers would make much more of an effort to blend in, and Bounty Hunters would probably have better quality gear.

The man in the mask pointed at the dead man on the ground, and a deep, crackling voice emitted from within the mask, sounding barely human, but spoke perfect basic.

"The people who killed this man…" The masked figure spoke. "Where did they go?"

The four mercs chuckled as they approached. "Do we look like info-droids to you, dome-head?" The one in the lead said. "We're more of a welcoming committee, and we're here to offer you some protection on these dangerous streets…"

The man in the mask issued another dull growl, glancing back down at the dead man, then back at the men at the end of the alley. He had no time for this nonsense.

"Seems to me, a fella without paid protection is open to all sorts of bad accidents…" The leader of the foursome said, scratching his head with the edge of his blaster indicatively. "So let's talk pricing… Or let's not talk at all."

In answer, the figure in the mask thrust out his hand, and the damaged astromech at his feet suddenly flew forward dramatically, slamming into the two men at the center of the group, knocking them both off their feet with painful yelps. The two rifle-wielding mercs were taken off-guard, but tried to recover, leveling their weapons. As they fired though, a piece of scrap durasteel lifted off the ground with merely a gesture from the masked man, and blocked the blast bolts, steadily moving toward them down the alley. The rifle-toting men backed away as it drew nearer, trying to pull their associates off the ground as they went, but the plate was coming too quickly, so they eventually just backed off, focusing on firing.

As the plating passed over their two downed comrades, there was a strange 'snap-hiss' sound, and a blazing red light shone from behind the plate, illuminating the walls of the alley. The mercs heard their two downed associates scream once, then a violent pair of buzzing sounds were heard, and a discharge of energy cut them off. The smell of burning flesh and ozone filled the alley, and the two mercs turned to run, now back out in the street next to the Baron's Head. Suddenly though, from behind the plate of durasteel, still floating above the ground, the masked figure leapt into view, wielding a red-bladed Lightsaber in his right hand. He brought the saber down in an overhead strike, cleaving one of the men in half, and then swept it to the side, removing the final man's leg. He fell to the ground, screaming in agony, clutching at his useless stump, which had once been his leg. The masked man stood in the center of the street, between his two downed targets, and people gasped in horror, backing away, a stark contrast to the previous night's scene. The masked man looked around at the pedestrians, letting the moment sink in, before finally turning, and plunging the Lightsaber straight down through torso of the one-legged man.

He focused his power on the Lightsaber, holding it in place, and letting go of the hilt, but still keeping it ignited. It was an impressive display, as the still active blade seared at the clothing and flesh it was buried within, making the burning flesh/ozone scent waft through the entire street now. He paced a few steps away from the man on the ground, and let his mask-covered gaze drift across the crowd around him.

"There was a woman and a man here last night." He said, his filtered voice sounding calm, but no less intimidating. "They murdered an official agent of The First Order in cold blood, and are now wanted fugitives." He continued, extending his hand. "Any who come forward with information leading to their arrest…" His Lightsaber suddenly yanked itself free of the body it was buried in, and the hilt returned to its owner's hand, where it was held aloft, horizontally. "Would be considered a good samaritan, and find themselves in the favor of The First Order."

The assembled people looked at the display before them, at the bodies strewn about the street, as well as those down the alleyway. They knew which side they'd rather be on in terms of favor or disfavor.

"She was there." The masked man said an hour later, now aboard the light assault cruiser on the dark side of Sullust, the main planet that Sullon served as a moon to. "And she made contact with Davin Creel."

The other man, wearing a First Order officer's uniform, turned to face him, a look of puzzlement on his face. "Who?"

The masked man pushed back his hood, revealing his helmet in full. It was mostly black, except for the face plate, which was a battered, faded gold color, and featured three horizontal viewing slits, covering a transparisteel lens. The rear of the helmet curved around, ending in two sharp points that aimed slightly downward toward the shoulders of the wearer.

"Former Imperial Stormtrooper." He explained. "Imperial records indicate that he was part of a special detachment sent to hunt down and eradicate Pirate and Smuggling operations throughout the outer rim that were not providing services to the Empire. Initial reports indicated that his squad stumbled across a Jedi who survived Order 66, and that they were all assumed killed by said Jedi."

"I take it those reports were incorrect…" The officer said.

The masked figure nodded. "Follow-ups indicate that Creel had been held captive by the Jedi for several months, but was later freed when a Battalion of troops were sent in to finish off the Jedi. Creel was returned to active duty, but abandoned his post during the chaos that followed the death of The Emperor."

The officer sighed, straightening his uniform slightly, and locking his hands behind his back, pacing before the Knight of Ren. "And you believe that Commodore Nyrakis contacted this man?" He asked. "For what purpose?"

"Unclear at this time." The Ren responded. "It is certain that it involves her adamant anti-Order political dealings though. The accounts given of Creel and Maven's 'discussion' with the agent confirms that much."

The officer nodded, and turned to face The Ren. "Very good. I shall include your report with my own, and send it to high command, as well as to your master."

The Ren nodded, and wordlessly turned to leave. As he did so, The Officer once again compulsively straightened his uniform, and left the briefing chamber as well. He glanced down the hallway to the right, watching the Knight of Ren leave, and resisted the urge to shudder. The Knights always made him uneasy, and he was ashamed to admit it, but he couldn't argue with their effectiveness at missions like this one. As he made his way toward the meeting room, he considered the implications of what he'd just been told.

Maven Nyrakis was a high-ranking officer, and member of the Imperial Remnant Council. She had openly opposed any such unification between The First Order and the Remnant every time such matters had been proposed, and seemed to have a personal disdain for the Order itself… This seemed different though. To be party to the murder of a First Order Agent, in public no-less… True, they couldn't make that knowledge public, as that would implicate them in espionage against an Imperial council member, but still… It was telling as to Maven's true intentions toward them. And what of this Davin Creel? What could she possibly need a washed-up Stormtrooper for? Were they so desperate for experienced soldiers that they were now tracking down deserters and mutineers? The thought made him smile a bit as he approached the meeting room doors, flanked by two Stormtroopers wearing Imperial-era armor, which stood across the hall from First Order Stormtroopers.

This display also brought him amusement, as it perfectly displayed the contrast and similarities between this new Order and the old Empire. Aside from the one or two remaining officers from the true Empire's reign, the Remnant forces were mostly a pathetic rabble of Stormtroopers and pint-sized Star Destroyers that the loathsome Republic allowed them to keep… It was sad really. The truly visionary leaders among the Empire had long ago left it behind, and fled to the Unknown Regions to lay the seeds for what was now The First Order.

The doors to the meeting chamber slid aside, and General Kerek stepped through them, awaited by an elderly man in an Imperial Remnant Admiral's uniform. The mustachioed man turned his chair to face the General as he entered, and regarded him skeptically.

"Admiral Pallaeon." Kerek said with a smile, approaching the table and saluting him.

Pallaeon kept his seat a moment longer, then stood up, and returned the salute after a moment. It was clear that he did not hold The First Order's legitimacy in high esteem, but nevertheless, he was a military man through and through.

"General." He said, then took his seat once more, as Kerek crossed to the other side of the table to take his own. "I took this meeting begrudgingly to begin with, and my patience for your tardiness was about at its end."

"My sincerest apologies, Admiral." Kerek said, looking him in the eye as he spoke. "I was detained by an unforeseen development."

"I trust it was very pressing…" Pallaeon said, leaning back in his chair.

"If it was not, I would not have kept you waiting, Admiral, I assure you." Kerek assured him. "I am most honored by your presence aboard my ship."

"You may dispense with the pleasantries, General." Pallaeon said, cutting him off before he went further. "You may also explain to me now why we have made the jump to hyperspace since my arrival… I do not take kindly to being relocated by a foreign organization."

Kerek hesitated. He hadn't thought that Pallaeon would have noticed their jump to hyperspace, and had been hoping to reveal this fact when the navigation officer notified him of their arrival at their destination… As if reading his mind, Pallaeon sighed impatiently.

"I've spent a sizeable portion of my life aboard Star Destroyers, General…" He explained, leaning forward and tapping his finger on the table in front of him. "I know when one is moving, and when it is not…"

"Once again, you have my apologies, Admiral." Kerek said. "I thought perhaps a bit of theatricality-"

"If your intention was to insult me, you have done quite well." Pallaeon said. "Now… Explain yourself."

Kerek adjusted his uniform once again, and then placed his hands in front of him on the table, interlocking his fingers.

"I have a proposal for you, Admiral Pallaeon."

"Other Generals before you have come to me with proposals…" Pallaeon said. "I have dismissed such offers."

"Perhaps this time will be different." Kerek suggested. "I believe that it is, hence my attempt at theatricality."

"Theatricality is a sign of weakness in argument or in offer." Pallaeon stated indignantly. "Facts are what rule the day in the end."

"Was that a lesson you picked up from your time serving with Grand Admiral Thrawn?" Kerek asked.

The question had been abrupt, and had taken Pallaeon off-guard slightly. He narrowed his eyes at Kerek. "Yes. Indeed it was. That was some time ago though, as you're well aware."

"I am indeed, Admiral." He said. "With all due respect though, sir… Your link to Admiral Thrawn is why The First Order has pursued your blessing so adamantly."

"My service with the late Admiral Thrawn is an important time in my life, but my service in the Imperial Navy has more than overshadowed that time." Pallaeon said, once again holding indignance in his tone.

"Please don't mistake my meaning, Admiral." Kerek assured him. "I only mean that you hail not only from a time when the Empire was truly the Empire, but you also served during the only ernest attempt made by the Remnant to reclaim that former glory. We admired that campaign quite a bit."

"I'm sure you did." Pallaeon said, furrowing his brow. "I'll ask you again to come to the point, or I'll be forced to summon my escorts, insist that you drop out of Hyperspace, and allow me to depart."

The under-handed threat was well received, so Kerek nodded, submitting. He did not wish to offend the Admiral more than he already had, and in spite of the light verbal sparring, did indeed want to win him over, rather than try to one-up him.

"Perhaps sir, we should go to the bridge then." Kerek suggested. "There, you can properly see what it is we are preparing for you."

Pallaeon regarded him suspiciously for a moment, then nodded, and stood up. "Very well then…" He relented.

A few minutes later, Kerek and Pallaeon stood on the bridge of the refurbished Imperial-class Star Destroyer 'The Dissident', and watched as the familiar, spinning vortex of Hyperspace whirled around outside the viewports. Pallaeon's patience hadn't been extended much, so Kerek was relieved when the navigation officer finally looked over and notified them of the proximity ping.

"Here we are, Admiral." Kerek said, locking his fingers behind his back in anticipation.

The hyperspace tunnel slowed, and the starlines became visible, which then reverted back to the pinhole white points amidst the usual blackness of deep space.

"We have arrived in the Unknown Regions, General." The nav officer informed him.

Pallaeon's eyes widened visibly, and he took a step toward the viewport, surveying the display before him. Kerek smirked, and stepped forward to join him, honestly understanding and sharing in Pallaeon's wonder. Kerek himself had seen it grow and develop since almost the beginning, but something about seeing it with a newcomer gave him a renewed fire in his belly…

There, hanging above their deep-space makeshift shipyard, was the first hints of a First Order fleet. At the moment, it was merely an assortment of older ships; another old Imperial-Class Star Destroyer, two Victory-Class ships, several Lancer-Class Frigates, and dozens of new-model TIE Fighters, the design of which harkened back to the Imperial models, yet featured updated shield technology, as well as more advanced weapon systems, and a two-seat pilot/gunner setup to accommodate them.

"You… You've broken the Military Deconstruction Accord…" Pallaeon said, turning to face Kerek. "The Republic will-"

"-Do nothing." Kerek said. "They have done nothing for three years now, Admiral."

Pallaeon's gaze returned to the display before him. "They haven't sent anyone to serve you sanctions?"

"Who would they send?" Kerek asked. "Their precious fleet? They have no authority in the Unknown Regions. Only The First Order has authority out here, Admiral."

Pallaeon shook his head. "If you continue to grow, they will send their fleet nonetheless. They cannot allow you to so directly oppose them, and you would be ambushed by the ships of thousands of worlds before you even crossed the outer rim."

"Which is why we need your help, Admiral." Kerek said. "You know the location of something that will tip the odds in our favor… The Maw Installation."

Pallaeon turned to face him once more. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean…" He said.

"Come now, Admiral…" Kerek said, sounding hurt. "You do indeed know full well what I mean."

Pallaeon turned away from Kerek and the viewport, his Stormtrooper guard staying close to him, at the ready. "You have committed an act of espionage against the Imperial Remnant by uncovering the name of that installation." He informed Kerek. "This will have dire consequences for you."

Kerek had anticipated this, and held his hands out questioningly. "What consequences would those be?" He asked. "You have seen yourself that our fleet far outweighs yours, Admiral… You have only ONE Imperial Class Star Destroyer, which is your personal flagship, and a smattering of Gladiator-Class Destroyers, hardly a threat to anything outside that window." He finished with a wave of his hand.

Pallaeon turned on him angrily. "I do not take kindly to threats, General… Do not think me helpless just because I am currently a GUEST aboard your vessel. Furthermore, do not make the mistake of assuming that larger ships guarantees superiority in battle."

"It is not a threat, Admiral…" Kerek said. "It is an OFFER."

"An offer to what? Condemn the Galaxy to yet another several decades of war, only to have the Republic claim victory YET AGAIN?" Pallaeon said with outrage. "I think not. Even your impressive array of stolen or rebuilt outdated flying junkyards out there cannot stand up to the Republic Fleet at Hosnian Prime."

"If you help us, there will BE no fleet to stand against…" Kerek said. "no Hosnian Prime for them to protect…" He added, stepping closer. "and no Republic Senate to shout useless sanctions against us."

Pallaeon regarded him suspiciously, narrowing his eyes once more. "General… Whom do you speak for?" He asked.

Kerek frowned. "I speak for The First Order." He said.

"Yes, but you are a General…" Pallaeon said, looking around. "I see no Admirals, and thusfar you are the highest ranking official I've spoken to." He said, turning back to face him. "Who is the leader of your Order?"

"We serve Supreme Leader Snoke." Kerek said, beaming with pride and sinister admiration.

"And who, may I ask, is Supreme Leader Snoke?" Pallaeon shot back. "A title in and of itself does not impress."

"He is a very wise, and strong man. He lifted us all from obscurity and defeat, and returned us to the path to victory…" Kerek informed him. "He destroyed the meddlesome New Jedi Order, and will usher us back to the seat of power in the Galaxy!"

Kerek suddenly raised his fist into the air, and stood at attention, everyone else on the bridge doing the same just as suddenly, without prompting. Pallaeon looked around, and saw the fierce, determined expressions fixed to their faces, and something in their eyes reminded him of a time after the Empire… When he'd seen such a look in the eyes of his own men, and the men who served his superiors at the time.

"He destroyed the New Jedi Order…" Pallaeon said thoughtfully. "He is a follower of The Force as well, then?"

"He is so much more than that." Kerek said. "But that is all you may know, Admiral. I apologize…"

Pallaeon thought a moment, approaching the viewport once more, and staring out at the small, but nevertheless impressive armada before him… The Maw Installation would indeed raise this force up to a level of power that could conceivably take on the New Republic… But at what cost? How many would die if he did as The First Order wanted? Though, how many of his own people had already died pursuing a dream that had never come to pass? How many had fought to restore the Empire, only for its leaders to surrender, and agree to such humiliating and ridiculous terms?

Pallaeon felt the fire burning inside him, as it had so many years ago after the battle of Jakku… When he'd realized that the Empire would never be what it once was. He turned again, to look at the faces of those around him, still standing, still saluting… And he realized that, perhaps, this NEW Order was more than just a band of fanatics… They would never be the Old Empire, but perhaps they could form something that could equal its greatness. A new, shining beacon of authority in the Galaxy, to silence the endlessly bickering politics of the New Republic…

"Alright…" Pallaeon said finally, and turned back to face Kerek. "I'll take you to the Maw Installation."

Kerek grinned. "Admiral Pallaeon… You honor us. Your name will join the Supreme Leader's in the annals of history as those who returned order and prosperity to the Galaxy!"

He saluted once more, and everyone on the bridge let out a "ho!" of approval. Pallaeon looked at the display around him, at the new Stormtroopers flanking the entrances to the bridge, and then at his own troopers, donned in their perfectly polished, but older models of armor… He hoped he was doing the right thing.

Chapter III: Recruitment Drive

Maven stood straight, her hands clasped behind her back, beneath her cape, having changed from her cloaked disguise back into her official Imperial Uniform. It was a customized black uniform, including the cape, which hung from the shoulders of her uniform, and traced the collar. She'd chosen the caped uniform style both to set herself apart from the other Imperial Council members, and as a tribute to her late mentor… It was, as always, immaculately in order and crisp, her Commodore rank badge straight and polished.

She could feel the usual stiff unease from those on the bridge, and knew that was simply the effect she created whenever she chose to supervise operations personally. That was also sometimes WHY she chose to supervise personally, when she had perfectly capable underlings to do so for her. It was important for the crew to have a simultaneous source of inspiration, as well as a source of fear that would drive them away from laziness and sloppiness that had claimed so much of the Imperial Remnant's forces in other parts of their territory.

Behind her, she felt the presence of Davin Creel approaching the bridge. She had been able to sense him once more soon after he'd come aboard The Stormbreaker. She still wasn't sure what exactly his amulet was, but she had a few educated guesses, and was equally fascinated and amused at the cleverness of his ability to harness it. She heard his footsteps approach, and stop a few paces behind her, so she waited a few more moments, then turned to face him.

"I trust you slept well…" She said, then she paused, surprised by the radical difference she was now observing before her.

Davin now wore a pair of black tactical pants, tucked into tall, knee-high boots, a black tunic shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his biceps. Over the tunic, he had a very old, battered Stormtrooper chest armor plate, with what appeared to be a black Nerf skull painted onto the chest. He'd attached the shoulder plates to it as well, and wore the forearm armor on his bare arms, as well as the hand sections, attached to a pair of black leather gloves, missing the thumb, index, and middle finger. He had his belt and holster, still containing his A-280, but he now had his large Vibroblade prominently displayed in a scabbard on his left hip, which she now noticed had a colored gem of some kind attached to the base of the hilt.

However, the most drastic change, the one that had caught her off-guard, had been the changes to Davin's face. He had cut off most of his long, unruly hair, buzzing his head down very short on the sides, where it was graying, leaving a slight length of hair on top. He'd also shaved his face, though not completely, there was still a crop of slight shadowing, which accented several facial scars on his jaw, accompanying the one that passed over his left eye. The clean-up of his appearance made him look several years younger.

As if he could read her mind, he smirked. "Yeah, I clean up well, don't I?"

She scoffed, walking past him without a word, assuming he would follow. He didn't though, instead, he stared out the viewports, at the two other Star Destroyers under Maven's command, The Attestor and The Shattered Axe. Maven stopped when she realized he wasn't following, and turned to look at him.

"Perhaps you haven't quite woken yet?" She said, sarcastically. "We are going to the hangar."

Davin ignored her. He stared out at the Star Destroyers and she could tell he was wondering, likely not for the first time, if he was making a mistake to work with The Empire again… A moment later, she was at his side again, her hands still behind her back.

"The important thing to consider is not whether or not you can trust The Remnant…" She said. "What IS important, is that you can trust my hatred of The First Order."

He looked at her finally, his jaw tight. After a moment, he nodded. "The enemy of my enemy…" He muttered.

She nodded back. "Quite right."

Together, they turned and walked away from the viewports, toward the entrance to the bridge. Maven glanced down at the Vibroblade hanging from his belt, and flexed her bicep absently against the saber hilt she carried in a shoulder holster, hidden beneath her cape, which wafted behind her as she walked. She sensed something about his weapon… a dull, faded murmur in The Force. Faded, but still very much active, and it seemed to emanate from the gem he'd affixed to the handle.

"Where did you come by that weapon?" She asked.

Davin eyed her out of the corner of his eye. "This old thing?" He asked, patting his blaster. "Took it off a pirate during my first year of service." He explained. "First apprehension I made on the outer rim anti-piracy campaign."

Maven sighed in irritation. Davin rolled his eyes as they stepped into the turbolift at the end of the corridor.

"I made it." He said simply, addressing the vibroblade this time.

"It radiates Force energy." She said, indicating the gem. "What is the crystal?"

"Kyber." He said, staring straight ahead. "Belonged to a friend."

"So the rumors about you are true then." She said. "You befriended a Jedi, and betrayed The Empire for him."

"I wouldn't put it quite that simply." Davin said, irritation in his voice now.

"I don't know how else to put it. You were a Stormtrooper, you befriended a Jedi, and then you abandoned your post as soon as you returned to service…"

Davin suddenly punched the emergency stop button on the lift controls, and the chamber shuddered to a halt. Davin turned on her quickly, and she turned on him just as quickly, her hand already on her saber hilt.

"Let's get something straight, sister…" He said severely. "I'm in on this because it'll give me the chance to shatter some bucket heads, and maybe knock the First Order down a peg because they have it coming."

"That is more than clear at this juncture." Maven said, her voice steady and calm in spite of his hostility.

"Good." Davin continued. "So let's not have any delusions from you, or any of the other Imperial slugs around here that you know anything about me, or where I came from. Fact is, I didn't just up and leave the Empire because I got buddy-buddy with a Jedi. I left the Empire because I SAW the Empire from the outside for the first time… and I didn't like what I saw."

He let that sit a moment, then turned, and hit the button once more, resuming their journey down to the hangar. Maven watched him another moment, her hand drifting away from the Lightsaber under her arm, and back to behind her back. Truth be told, she had experience moments of doubt herself in the final days of the Empire. Questionable moral decisions made by leadership at the time, and then the fiasco that was Jakku… Perhaps his point of view was not entirely invalid.

"You are quick to anger for someone who followed the Light Side…" She mused.

"Not exactly a 'sides' kind of guy these days…" Davin said, shaking his head. "I guess beating a guy to death with a vibro-bat didn't clue you in enough."

"I suppose I was distracted by how enjoyable that was to watch." She retorted. "So if you no longer believe in sides, what DO you believe in?"

He was silent a moment, then swallowed. "You put it pretty succinctly at the bar the other night…" he said, then looked at her. "The Force is what it is, people make of it what they will. I don't think The Force gives a damn about us one way or the other, so anyone who tries to use it as an excuse for why they do the things they do is a liar."

"And do you think your Jedi friend would approve of this way of thinking, were he still alive?" She asked, her tone full of sincerity, not prodding passive aggression.

"Doesn't really matter now, does it?" Davin asked. "He's been dead for decades, and all that's left of him is a cracked crystal in the hilt of a dagger."

"And what about that?" She asked, indicating the necklace that his mysterious amulet was attached to.

Davin glanced down at it, then shook his head. "No. That was something I came by during my travels alone. It's got an Ysalimiri brain inside it, hooked to a small electrode. I press the button, it shocks the brain and activates its instinctive defense mechanism."

"Projecting an anti-Force field." She said. "Just like the Ysalimiri did in life… How did you come by it? I thought they were extinct?"

Davin smirked. "Ask me again if we live long enough."

The turbolift came to a halt, and opened up to the hangar bay. The two of them headed out across the hangar floor, ignoring the various Imperial troops and officers that stood at attention as Maven passed. She sensed Davin's discomfort with the process, and briefly considered reading his thoughts to find out more about his mental state, but she suspected he would not take kindly to that.

Ahead, looking highly out of place on the sleek, well-kempt docking floor, Davin's ship sat at the ready, having been towed up from the surface of Sulon. Its engines had been non-functional for the last two years, so it had been worked on overnight by the crack team of engineers that The Stormbreaker boasted. It was an older model YT-1760 Freighter, albeit one that had seen better days. Davin had acquired it during his travels on the outer rim, at an auction of a broken-down shipping company's assets. He had added dual laser cannons to the dorsal and ventral positions on the ship, as was common practice for those that owned YT model freighters during the Rebellion/Republic eras.

"Are you certain this… vessel… will hold together?" She inquired, practically spitting the word 'vessel'.

"Long as your people put her back together the right way." Davin shot back.

"My people are of the highest caliber and reliability."

"So's my ship."

Their verbal barbs thrown, the two boarded the ship, heading up the ramp extended down from the rear. They passed beneath the airlock tube overhead, nestled between the two large main engines on either side, and continued through the modestly sized cargo hold into the main deck. Davin maneuvered around the ladder that led up to the dorsal gun, and down to the ventral gun, and Maven took a moment to inspect the area.

As Davin mounted the stairs leading up to the bridge, she headed to the lounge area, finding it to be unkempt and sloppy, much like everything else Davin had shown, aside from his clean-up of himself that morning. Empty food packages, various alcoholic drink containers, clothing and a few technical odds and ends were scattered about, covering the surfaces of the eating table and countertops. She turned around, facing the row of crew quarters at the opposite end of the main deck from her, and could only imagine what the state of those was, given what she'd seen already.

"You gonna head up here, or strap in back there?" Davin's voice inquired through the intercom. "Because we're ready to go."

Confirming this, she heard the dull, deep thrum of the freighter's engines firing up, and the deck vibrated ever-so-slightly for a moment until the old stabilizers kicked in, and the shuddering subsided.

Maven headed up the steps to the cockpit door, which slid aside automatically as she approached. Davin was in the pilot's chair, flipping switches and firing up the various systems needed for departure. She took a seat in the passenger chair, behind the copilot chair, and buckled in, hoping the ship was sound enough to make it out of the docking bay.

"YT-1760, please issue departure callsign." The comm link hissed.

Davin grabbed his headset, and put the microphone to his mouth. "This is The Inglourious, departing main hanger bay." He replied.

The ship shuddered once more, and lifted off the deck, navigating out through the atmospheric shield, and dropped down below the belly of the massive Star Destroyer. Davin tilted the yolk of the controls, turning the ship away from them, and the nose turned, the form of the planet Khallidor and its three moons passing by as he turned.

Satisfied the ship was at least space-worthy, Maven eased back in her chair a bit. Davin punched in the coordinates to the nav computer, and when the calculations pinged back a moment later, he pulled back on the hyperdrive levers. Outside, the stars stretched into starlines, then into the swirling vortex of Hyperspace, and The Inglourious was on its way to Ord Mantell.

Another planet. Another bar.

Davin wondered to himself whether or not this was all some kind of self-fulfilling prophesy for his life… He kept getting dragged off to backwater planets with backwater dive bars, and any time he tried to make something more of his life, it was completely knocked down and stripped for parts… Briefly, thoughts of his family entered his mind, but he couldn't afford them, so he instead pushed them aside.

Ahead, lay 'Shipwreck Cove', one of the less seedy establishments on Ord Mantell, in spite of the fact that it was housed inside of two Old Republic gunships from the Clone Wars. Nearly a half century before, the Clone Wars had taken a heavy toll on Ord Mantell, and left behind a LOT of junk in its wake. Since then, it had been a constant tug of war between the Empire, the Black Sun, The Hutts, and various other criminal enterprises as to who truly ran the place. Currently, in New Republic times, the planet sort of just ran itself, and people did as they pleased, as long as what they pleased didn't involve posing a threat to other systems.

The two ships faced away from one-another, their back-ends removed, and inside the troop carrier bay, a small bar area had been installed, with stools mounted to the outer edge of both sides of the ship's bar counters. Around the ships, in a circle, there was a seemingly random scattering of tables and chairs, which were moved around almost constantly by staff and patrons alike.

Davin kept a wary eye on the patrons gathered, deciding if there were any that warranted true concern… There weren't. That day seemed to be a light day for Bounty Hunters and Mercenaries, so most of the people there seemed to be traveling merchants, smugglers and even a few independent prospectors, hoping to scavenge some good junk from the massive heaps of Old Republic and Separatist warships scattered about the battlefields that the bar's position overlooked.

Then Davin saw him, standing behind the bartop, reading something on a datapad screen in his hands, ignoring the goings-on around him as his staff; three droids and a blue-skinned female twi'lek, did the work. Davin approached the bar, his senses telling him that Maven was right behind him. He took a seat at the stool closest to where his old 'friend' leaned, and drummed his hands to get his attention.

The other man, a bit younger than Davin, but also having salt-and-pepper in his hair, looked over at him. He had a beard that was well trimmed, and covered his cheeks and jaw, which also sported a dignified bit of gray. He wore a battered brown flightsuit, with the name "Bastra" written in Aurebesh on a patch on the left side of his chest.

"Interesting armor…" The man behind the bar said without looking up. "Imperial, right?"

Davin nodded. "The armor is."

The other nodded. "Thought so… The design is all wrong for scavenged Clone Trooper armor." He explained, looking up and setting the data pad aside. "Dangerous to walk around wearing scavved Stormtrooper armor… Especially if you killed someone to wear it."

Davin smirked. "Lucky for me, it was issued."

The other man tilted his head to the side slightly, looking harder at Creel's face. Then suddenly, recognition clicked, and his eyes widened, and he stood up straighter.

"Davin Creel… As I live and breathe." He said, smirking.

"Waric Bastra." Davin replied.

Waric pushed the data pad out of the way, raised the hinged section of the bartop, and came out into the seating area, clasping Davin's hand in his own as he took a seat beside him. He hadn't noticed Maven on the opposite side of him, or else he'd just forgotten about her after recognizing Davin.

"How the blazes are ya? I haven't seen you since-"

"-Since you were sitting in an Imperial detention block." Davin finished for him.

Waric rolled his eyes. "One detour I'd care to forget… Unfortunately one of many."

"I've heard rumors." Davin said, nodding solemnly. "You had a crew for a long time, what are you doing running a bar on this trash heap of a planet?"

Waric shot him a playful scowl. "I was born on this trash heap, plastic man." He said, rapping on Davin's plastisteel forearm gauntlet beneath his jacket.

Davin held up his hands in fake surrender. "Apologies." He said, then placed his hands on the counter in front of him. "There HAVE been rumors though… About what happened."

Waric sighed, maintaining his jolly demeanor outside, but Davin could see all-too-well the pain inside from what he was now remembering.

"Yeah, I bet there are…" He admitted. "First Order scum… Never thought they'd come this far into the Republic's territory."

"Well, I've got someone here who has heard your story, and might just have something you wanna hear." Davin said, leaning back and indicating the hooded woman beside him. "This is Maven." He continued, bracing himself. "She's with The Remnant."

Waric's smile faded. He shot her a glare, then the glare turned to Davin, and he slowly stood up, his hands curling into fists.

"Thought we was friends, Davin…"

Davin stood as well, keeping his hands in plain sight, indicating he was not interested in fighting. "We are, Waric… We are. You really think that I, of all people, would be sitting here with her if there wasn't something to hear?"

Neither man spoke for a time, Waric's gaze shifting from one of them to the other, trying to work out what was going on. After a few moments though, it seemed like he figured out enough of it, and chuckled, winking at Davin before sitting down once more. Davin returned to his seat again, and Waric pointed to Maven.

"So. Imperial Lady." He said. "What did you want with me?"

She pushed her hood back, addressing him with her piercing gray eyes directly so he knew she was serious. "As I understand it, The First Order took a lot from you some time ago." She began, earning a confirming nod from Waric. "I am putting together a venture that might well give you the chance to fight back, and repay them some of that unchecked aggression that led to the untimely deaths of your crew."

Waric inhaled deeply, clearly the notion was an interesting one to him. From the way Davin had explained it, and her minimal Imperial data on Waric suggested, Waric's crew had accidentally targeted a First Order supply convoy, thinking it was Remnant. Once onboard though, they'd found themselves face-to-blade with a Knight of Ren. Waric's crew had been killed, and he found himself shot out into space aboard a sabotaged escape pod. After rewiring the pod, getting picked up by and then promptly hijacking a Black Sun freighter, Waric returned to Ord Mantell to find that the Order's forces hadn't been satisfied killing Waric's ship crew… They'd returned and finished off his entire base.

She could see the whole story play out in his mind, and in his eyes, Force or not, and it was a genuine shock to her when he shook his head.

"Sorry. Not interested." He said simply.

Davin was just as shocked as she was. "No?" He asked. "Why the blazes not?" He sounded a bit angry now, as if the refusal was insulting to him directly somehow.

"Davin…" Waric said with a sigh, looking at him. "I'm old. I'm tired." He explained. "I've got a nice little business here, with employees and patrons that look out for me, and I look out for their needs. I can't go off on some crusade against the First Order just to get another target painted on my back for my trouble." He shook his head again. "No. I'd rather just let them think I'm dead, and continue on my way in the universe."

Davin frowned and shook his head as well, scarcely able to believe what he was hearing. "Waric Bastra, the dread pirate of the outer rim territories…" Davin said, standing up from his stool again. "Never thought I'd see the day even HE was willing to forgive and forget."

"Oh, I didn't say that." Waric said, shaking his head. "I don't forgive OR forget… I just keep to myself."

"One could argue the two are both indications of cowardice." Maven said sharply.

Davin glared at her for the comment. "Watch it." He warned. "This man is one of the-"

He was cut off though, as Waric laid a hand on Davin's armored shoulder, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it, Davin… It is a bit cowardly." He admitted. "Never claimed to be brave. Hell, I don't know what pirate worth his salt WOULD claim to be brave… I just know I'd like to live awhile longer is all."

Maven seemed to consider this a moment, but shook her head and stood up after awhile. "No." She said, pulling her hood back up. "The entire Galaxy will suffer when The First Order is ready, and those who do not fight them now will regret it later."

Waric smirked, and held up his index finger pointedly. "But I'll live to regret it." He said.

"Yes. Well." Maven said, rolling her eyes. "Enjoy that, while others die in your stead trying to protect this little watering hole of yours."

With that, she stalked off, and Davin sighed, shaking his head. He looked over at Waric, who stared after Maven a moment, before looking at Davin once again.

"Sorry Waric, didn't mean to come here and get you all riled up."

Waric waved a dismissive hand. "Forget it. At least I got to see an old, familiar face." He said, then raised an eyebrow. "Heard some rumors about you too, Davin…" He said, scratching his beard anxiously. "About your family."

Davin shook his head. "Thanks, but just don't." He said, then tossed a few credit chits down on the counter beside him. "Good luck, Waric. I sincerely mean it."

Waric gave a casual salute to his old friend, and stood up from his stool as well, watching him go. For a moment, it was clear he regretted having to make the decision, but he knew it was for the best. After a moment, he went back behind the bar, still trying to shake off the memories of what had happened to him and his crew all those years ago…

Davin caught up with Maven a few yards away from the bar, and matched her pace as they traversed the junk-riddled streets of Ord Mantell.

"Anyone ever tell you that you're a crappy salesman?" Davin inquired. "Generally it's better not to call people cowards when you want things from them."

Maven scoffed. "People react much more to having their worth called into question."

"People also react to credits." Davin said. "I didn't hear you offering to pay him though."

"We hardly need an old, broken-down pirate for our little venture." She said. "I was on the fence about this one anyway…"

Suddenly, the trash pile to their right exploded, the force of the concussion knocking both Davin and Maven off their feet, and into the dirt-covered street they'd been walking along. Ears ringing and heads pounding, they struggled up to a crouch, drawing their weapons, Maven pulling her sidearm, and Davin pulling his A-280.

The dust and debris kicked up by the explosion made it impossible to figure out where their assailants were, but the planted explosive assured both of them that it had been a consciously set up trap. Maven spun to the left, sensing the presence just as more junk was hurled aside, this time by a living being. She and Davin ducked low to the ground, making a run for a large pile of junk off to the other side of the road, just as a large Trandoshan emerged from the junk pile on the left, and roared.

Davin spun quickly, firing off a few rounds, spotting a large blaster cannon suspended between his clawed, reptilian arms. It let out a loud, wet snarl, and unleashed a barrage of laser fire that lit up the narrow street, and sent bolts of crimson energy sailing into the junk piles around Davin and Maven. They reached the relative safety of an overturned landspeeder frame just as the bolts tore into the other side. Their nostrils filled with the scent of scorched ozone, and their eyes stung from the dust still hanging in the air.

A flicker of motion caught Davin's attention, and he raised his blaster just as the silhouette of another Trandoshan appeared at the edge of the roof above them. He shouted a warning and squeezed off four shots, two of which struck the Trandoshan in the chest, and sent it toppling off the edge of the roof, landing with a crash a few feet from them, another heavy blaster cannon hitting the ground near it.

The Trandoshan from across the street did not let up its barrage though, and both Maven and Davin knew it was only a matter of time before it threw a thermal detonator to either incinerate them, or drive them out of hiding to be shredded by laser.

Before either of them could come up with a plan though, there was a 'snap-hiss' of crackling energy that sounded all-too familiar to both of them, and the laser fire ceased suddenly. Davin and Maven both stole glances around the edge of their makeshift cover to see a figure in a long, brown, sleeveless cloak, tactical pants, tall boots, and arms covered by some kind of thick, layered armor, leap down from behind the Trandoshan attacking them, a yellow-bladed Lightsaber clutched in the figure's hands. The Trandoshan was trying to turn to aim its large cannon at the falling attacker, but it was too slow, too clumsy of a weapon to re-aim that quickly. The figure slashed the saber in a flurry of movements, which sent the front half of the blaster cannon flying off to the side, and then sent the Trandoshan's head toppling from its body a moment later. From up the street, another figure, which appeared to be Rodian, came sprinting toward their position, carrying a repeating rifle. The flurry of yellow bead-like bolts rained down on their savior, and struck them over and over again.

In a rather puzzling display, the torso of the Lightsaber-wielder flew off its pelvis, and landed squarely in a pile of junk just off to the side of where he'd attacked the Trandoshan. Shouting voices told Davin and Maven that more attackers were coming. Maven sprinted at the Rodian, rolling underneath the strafing barrage of bolts now aimed at her, and firing off two quick shots to kill him where he stood. Davin spotted a humanoid form appear from the dust, coming up from the opposite direction of the street, and shot it before it could get close enough to see him. The victory was short-lived though, as three more figures appeared right behind him.

Davin cut his losses and turned, running for Maven's position. She saw the three attackers coming, and pulled her Lightsaber hilt from its holster beneath her robes, and ignited it with a 'snap-hiss' of white-blue light that illuminated the street. A helpless Gonk droid shuffled out of the trash piles, and fled past the approaching enemies, trying to get out of the line of fire. Maven assumed a defensive stance, readying herself to deflect the bolts. She knew Davin couldn't use The Force, so she hoped he could back her up with his blaster.

The scenario was not to be explored though.

The Gonk droid suddenly turned, the sides of its body opening up, and two armored arms emerged from inside on either side of the droid's body, both wielding blaster pistols.

"Gonk GONK!" It shouted.

The three bounty hunters spun to face the small, previously harmless droid, and their shock at what they were seeing was their undoing. The droid fired off a series of expertly-placed shots, one bolt per man, and they all dropped to the ground a moment later, dead.

The silence that followed was deafening, Maven and Davin's hearing was just now barely recovered from the explosion that had started it all, and the dust was finally beginning to settle around them. Davin holstered his weapon and approached the Gonk, who flipped his blasters on its index digits, before the body of the Gonk opened up all the way, and the torso of the mysterious, Lightsaber-wielding figure appeared, his head covered in a custom helmet that only exposed his mouth, which was decidedly human. The torso hovered into the air on mini-repulsors, and the legs and empty frame from before wobbled into view, approaching the hovering figure.

As it locked back in place aboard the legs, a smile split across Davin's face. "Jed." He said, crossing his arms. "Didn't recognize you."

A whirring sound emitted from the droid-man's body, and then he approached, his footsteps giving off a metal clanking sound through the boots he wore as he approached.

"You're welcome, Davin Creel." Jed said sarcastically.

His voice was slightly framed in electronic distortion, but as with his face, still decidedly human. He spun the blasters once more, and then shoved them inside matching holsters on either hip. Jed tilted his head to the side, looking past Davin at Maven, still holding the humming blue Lightsaber at the ready.

"Greetings, Maven Nyrakis." Jed said, smirking. "I assure you, I mean you no harm." He said, then extended his hand toward the pile of junk he'd ditched his body into.

A moment later, with a large shifting of random trash parts, a metal cylinder emerged, floating to his gloved-but-metal right hand. He grabbed hold of the moving item, which he then stuck onto his forearm, where it seemed to hold there magnetically. There was another, identical one on his opposite forearm, which he hadn't used. Maven looked to Davin, who nodded, indicating that he did indeed know their savior, and she killed her Lightsaber blade, keeping the weapon clutched in her hand though, just in case.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure…" She said, approaching the droid man.

"This is J3-D1." Davin explained, motioning to the strange mandroid.

If he had eyes, the other would have rolled them. He shook his head at Davin, then looked to Maven and extended a hand. "My name is Jed, and friends can call me by it."

Maven hesitated, then extended her own hand to shake his. She felt the edges of his metallic grip beneath his glove, but the shake was indeed gentle and friendly.

"Forgive my rudeness, but further introductions should be held until later…" She said, motioning to the dead assailants around them.

"Yeah…" Davin said, stealing the cannon from the dead Trandoshan he'd shot off the roof, and moving to get the repeater rifle from the Rodian's corpse. "No telling how many more of them there are out there."

"There were two others." Jed said simply. "I haven't detected any additional forces, but that does not necessarily mean there aren't any hiding amongst the populace, waiting to strike as these were, so your assessment is correct."

"Long story short, let's move." Davin said, heading past them, briskly heading toward the docking bay where they'd left The Inglourious. "You coming along, Jed?" He called over his shoulder.

"Most definitely." The mandroid replied, and trotted after Davin.

Maven stole one final look around, then hurried after the other two.

CHAPTER IV: The Limits of Mercy

The red blade flashed, and a moment later, the steaming corpse of the last Bounty Hunter fell to the ground, dead. The Knight of Ren extinguished his weapon, and hooked it back to his belt, reaching for his comm link next.

"The attack was a failure…" The Knight said in his helmet-distorted voice.

A moment later, Kerek's voice responded, sighing in disappointment. "That is unfortunate…" He said. "Do we at least have any further information on Maven Nyrakis' activities?"

"Unfortunately, no." The Ren said, glancing around the small alleyway at the bodies littered around him. "None of them had bothered to collect information before attacking…"

"Which is why they are surely dead at your feet now…" Kerek said spitefully. "Bounty Hunters… as my father always said, Ren… We don't need their scum."

"Yes, General." The Ren agreed. "Do we have any further leads?"

"Not at this time." Kerek said. "They are using a ship we had been previously unfamiliar with, hence we have no way to trace it yet. Return to the fleet, and we will simply have to wait for them to make their move."

"Yes, General." The Ren said, then put his comm link away, and stalked off down the alley back to the street, stepping over corpses deftly as he went.

He'd chosen the spot purposely, knowing he would be dealing with them lethally from the moment he arrived, and had chosen it to bottleneck them. His mind raced with the incidents that had preceded this day, and lamented the fact that the Bounty Hunters had moved early, before he'd arrived on Ord Mantell. He knew he would catch up with Nyrakis and Creel eventually, and when he did, he would make short work of their pathetic little band… Until then though, he would have to be patient, and do as the Order requested.

As he made his way back to his ship though, a nagging, lingering feeling clung to his mind. There had been another presence with Creel and Nyrakis… Someone else who could use The Force. He would eventually report this finding as well, but he was determined to know more before he did so… Especially since the presence felt somehow familiar to him, though he could not place it specifically.

'The Inglourious' zoomed thought Hyperspace, stable, and on-course for their next destination. Maven had changed back to her Imperial uniform, but left it unclasped, with a sleeveless white tunic shirt underneath. She'd only brought two outfits with her, the uniform and the disguise, and the disguise had gotten trashed during the ambush on Ord Mantell. So she had opted for the casual version of the uniform until she could clean her robes. She exited the refresher, her face cool with the remaining water she'd splashed it with, and as she passed by the lounge, caught the sight of a figure out of the corner of her eye. She turned, finding J3-D1, or Jed as he had said he liked to be called, sitting with his back to her at the table.

He'd cleared off the space, opting to shove most of the garbage either into the disposal bin, or onto the floor near it, indicating a level of familiarity with Davin and his ship. He'd removed the durasteel plating that made up his chest and back pieces, and they were currently laid out on the table in front of him. His robes were folded neatly, and had been placed on the bench seating across from him, so this was the first clear look at him she had gotten sofar… His torso was open and exposed, and inside, she could see transparent bacta bag plastic, which contained a set of very human-looking lungs, which swelled and shrank as he breathed. She could also see veins strewn about inside the bag, all leading to an also human-looking heart, which was steadily beating.

"Won't you join me?" Jed said, without looking up. "Unless the display is displeasing to you."

Maven jolted a bit at the suddenness of his voice. She hadn't meant to stand there and stare, but she had inevitably been reminded of the few times when she'd seen Vader in a similar state… Part human, part machine… She shook away the memories and crossed the main deck to the lounge, circling around the table. She could see that his helmet was off too, and his exposed head looked to be a custom droid back, melded onto a human face, albeit with a cybernetic droid eye occupying the left eye socket. His head turned to look at her, and the droid eye auto-focused on her, a golden glow behind it, as well as behind the human—looking eye in his right socket.

"Thank you." She said, and sat down across from him. "For offering the seat, as well as for your assistance on Ord Mantell." She added.

"Of course." He said, nodding and returning to his work.

He'd taken scrap durasteel pieces from various things Davin had left strewn about the ship, and was currently using a cutting torch to make fitted pieces to patch up the blast holes left in his body when he'd been hit by the repeater rifle.

"Forgive me, but may I ask you a question?" Maven inquired, watching him work.

Jed looked up, his eye whirring a bit as it focused on her once more. She could see healed, but distinct scar lines on his face in multiple spots as well, indicated that, even with bacta used on him, he must have suffered HORRIFIC levels of damage at some point.

"Of course." He said. "You want to ask about my current situation, right?" He said, motioning to his torso, and the parts strewn about on the table in front of him.

"Well… Yes." Maven said. "You're a human?"

Jed smirked at the question. "In my opinion, yes." He said, looking down at his work, but continuing to address her. "Others at times seem to disagree, but I have emotions, free will, and I can feel The Force… I think that makes me human."

Maven nodded. "So you CAN use The Force." She said.

"Indeed." He said, nodding back. "As can you, Maven Nyrakis."

"That was my second question." She said. "How do you know my name?"

He shrugged, his exposed servo shoulders whirring as he did. "Not quite sure. Possibly The Force told me… Possibly we've met before."

Maven frowned a bit. She couldn't tell if he was being facetious, or if he was being cryptic. "What was your name before your… Change?"

Once again, he gave a whirring shrug. "Not sure." He said. "My memories of that time are very few and far-between…"

"Were you a Jedi of the Old Republic?" She asked, legitimately interested in this possibility.

He shook his head. "That much I can say no to." He said. "I believe I was a student at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy."

Maven's blood ran cold, and she leaned forward. "You were?"

Jed nodded, finishing placing the perfectly cut durasteel piece into the hole. He looked up. "I believe that was the cause of my current condition." He finished.

"The burning of the Temple, you mean…" She said somberly. "I've heard many rumors of it… I have not been there myself."

"Few have, I'd wager…" He said, equally somber. "As I said though, my memories are fragmented from that time, I just remember the Academy, some of the other students' faces, no names of course… And I remember fire. So much fire…"

His gaze drifted and his eyes whirred out of focus as he stared off into space. The welder extinguished, and for a time, he sat there silently, as if reliving the faded memories. Then, there was a slight spark from the electrical wiring on the side of his head, and his head twitched. He cleared his throat, and there was a hint of electronic feedback in it as well.

"Sorry, I do that sometimes…" He said, embarrassed.

"Think nothing of it…" Maven reassured him.

She knew how memories could affect people.

Footsteps drew her gaze to the doorway leading to the steps to the cockpit, and a moment later, Davin emerged from it, having shed his armor, and now only wearing his black asymmetrical tunic shirt.

"We should be arriving at Takodana in a couple hours." He said, heading into the lounge kitchen and fetching himself a ration pack from one of the storage cubicles. "Making yourself at home I see." Davin said, indicating the garbage Jed had shoved into the disposal.

"Yes, heavens me… I cleaned up a bit." Jed said sarcastically, finishing up his patch work.

"Well, I hope you're gonna be able to pay for whatever you scavenged that durasteel from…"

"I think I'll take it out of the fee you owe me for saving your life…" Jed said, glancing over at Davin and raising an eyebrow. "Again."

Davin shrugged, ripping open the packet of food. "Call it square?"

Jed nodded. Davin took a bite out of the ration.

"Not to force business back to the topic at hand…" Maven said. "But I did as you asked, and there will be a squad of troops waiting for us at our destination."

"JUST one squad, right?" Davin asked.

Maven nodded. "Yes, you said no more, no less."

Davin nodded. "Good…" He said, taking another bite.

"I don't suppose you'd like to tell me WHY, would you?" She inquired.

"Well… I told you to pick guys that weren't your favorites, right?" He asked cryptically.

"Yes…" She said, arching an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because in all likelihood, most of them won't be coming back." Davin informed her. "This next recruitment won't be such a warm welcome…"

"I thought you knew The Banshee." Maven said.

Davin nodded, then shrugged. "Knew." He said. "Not 'friends with' though…"

"Enemies?" Maven inquired.

"Oh, Davin doesn't collect enemies…" Jed said, re-attaching his chest and back plates, and smirking. "Just a long line of former allies that have grown tired of his self-destructive, self-loathing loner thing."

Davin pointed at Jed and nodded. "What he said."

Davin blinked away the moisture collecting near his eyes, trying to keep a keen eye out for ANYTHING out of the ordinary as he, Maven, and the squad of Imperial Soldiers she'd brought along made their way through the rough, forested terrain before them. The misty air was refreshing in its own way… perhaps that was why their quarry had chosen the spot, for its deceptively calm appearance. Davin knew that keeping a weathered eye on the surroundings was pure folly, and just an instinctive impulse, because there was no way to prevent or plan for the first shot that would inevitably come. The only thing he could do was try to track its source before too many men went down.

He wondered, not for the first time, if they should have brought Jed along, given that he had The Force and his life sign sensors, but he'd reasoned that Jed would be best served guarding the ship, disguised as a landing attendant droid. They knew now that The First Order had put a bounty out on them, but they probably didn't know about Jed yet, so if there was trouble at the ship, he'd be able to warn them AND get the drop on their enemies. Additionally, leaving uniformed Imperial soldiers at The Inglourious was probably not the best way to avoid attracting attention to themselves. Maz Kanata's cantina was basically an informal spaceport for Takodana, a neutral zone for most walks of life to come and go in peace. Though the patronage was almost always respectful of Maz's rules, he knew better than to assume that nobody there would sell them out to The First Order.

Davin eyed the troops accompanying them, and shook his head, cursing himself for this whole idea. He didn't feel GREAT about bringing along the soldiers, knowing they were there as sniper bait, but what choice did he have? He knew that the first shots were unavoidable, and if he and Maven were alone, they'd be dead before they could even get a word in… With the soldiers there though, they had a chance while their quarry was busy picking off the squad. Not much of a chance, but a chance nonetheless.

Maven didn't seem too thrilled about the notion either, which surprised him, as most of his experience with Imperial officers led him to believe that they regarded their troops as expendable, and didn't consider them worth much more than the uniforms they wore, or the food they consumed. Maven was… different though. She seemed to legitimately care about the men under her command, and, from what he'd heard about Khallidor, the people she governed over as well.

"Contact." Their scout trooper said, taking a knee and leveling his weapon at the source of his call-out.

"Weapon barrels down." Maven instructed. "Remember, we are not looking for a fight here."

The troops around her did as they were told, keeping their muzzles low as they formed a defensive perimeter. Davin made his way off to the side, keeping himself behind any kind of cover possible. He'd donned his green flight jacket over his armor again, not wanting to stand out much against the terrain with white armor that, though modded and customized, was still decidedly Stormtrooper-ish.

He peered around the side of the tree with his macrobinoculars, trying to get a look at what the scout was indicating. He saw a shape, hard to make out, a few hundred yards ahead, up the natural incline of the hilly forest. It was nestled among a wad of branches and leaves, unmoving, and he could just barely make out a long, slender shape, concealed within ghillie netting, protruding from the underbrush. A hidden rifle barrel.

"Is it Banshee?" Maven whispered, suddenly at his side.

Davin nodded, passing her the binoculars, squinting toward the area he'd been examining through them. How had they not been spotted yet?

There was a loud 'CRACK!' of plastisteel shattering, and a discharge of carbon, and the scout trooper toppled over like a house of sabacc cards. The whiff of ozone stung in Davin's nostrils, and the vague 'pew' sound followed a split second AFTER the shot hit. Davin immediately spun around, scanning the treeline from the direction the shot had come from, which was NOT the direction of the sniper spot he'd been looking at. As he scanned the tree-laced hillside, he used the timing of the hit-to-sound to judge the likely distance…

It wasn't actually very far, but in a situation with a sniper… It was.

He crouched low, drawing his blaster from the holster and switching to the stun setting. He knew that a sniper would inevitably move after their first shot, so he had to know which direction to head for… That required letting another shot go off though.

The squad behind him re-positioned itself to form a defensive line facing the direction of the shot. Davin bobbed behind a tree, and heard another shot go off just as another trooper hit the ground, a hole burned into his chest. Davin saw the angle it had come from, and now knew the sniper was moving to his left. Davin whistled to Maven, indicated the direction he was headed, and bolted up the hill.

"Covering fire!" Maven shouted.

The volley of blaster fire from the squad chewed up the underbrush in the general area Davin was now headed for, sailing well over his head, but forcing him to keep low on instinct. He knew he didn't have the best reputation among the Remnant forces, so he didn't want to test the temptations of one of the squad 'accidentally' squeezing off a shot that ended him from behind.

Suddenly, his foot snagged something, and he felt a sharp pain shoot through his hip as his leg was yanked out from under him, and up into the air. He felt the mist-soaked blaster in his hand fly free of his grip, and he turned end-over-end. He swung wildly, upside down, and tried to get a grip on a nearby tree, only to realize there weren't any close enough for him to get a hold of.

Another shot rang out, and another trooper went down… There were only three troops left, and Davin knew he was running out of time. Frantically, he drew his Vibroblade from his belt clip, and activated it, causing the weapon to hum, and give off a dull glow from the inner blade, as well as the Kyber Crystal in the hilt. He grunted, and did a sit-up, then swung the blade horizontally at whatever was attached to this foot. He heard a sizzle, and felt the discharge as the Cortosis weave blade cleaved through the wire above him, and then he fell. He braced for the impact, which came a moment later, and he slammed into the forest floor, rolling a few times down the slight incline he'd been racing up.

Davin gasped for air, as the wind was knocked out of him, and struggled onto his hands and knees, pushing himself up to keep moving. Then he heard the click. He froze in his tracks, and looked to the right, out of the corner of his eye, peering over his shoulder. The muzzle of a blaster rifle hung there, leveled directly at his face, only a few centimeters from where he was crouched. He cringed, and looked back at the floor of the forest in front of him, practically able to feel the blaster pointed at him.

Davin immediately took his hand off the Vibroblade, letting it lay on the forest floor, and raised his hands, coughing as he was finally able to suck in a lung-full of air. Past the muzzle of the rifle, stood a figure dressed entirely in terran-toned camouflage netting and a mesh that covered their face.

"Where did you get that Kyber Crystal?" The figure demanded, nodding their head toward the knife on the ground. "Who did you kill for it?"

"Nobody." Davin said firmly, still not turning to face the other. "It belongs to me."

There was a hesitation, and the muzzle of the rifle drifted down ever so slightly, but still remained pointed at him.

"You're no Jedi." The other said.

Davin shook his head. "I'm no Jedi." He confirmed. "It was a gift, and I'm just a guy with a few questions…"

"People who come here with questions usually don't leave with answers… Or at all." The sniper said threateningly. "Who are you? Why are you traveling with a squad of Imperial troops?"

Before Davin could answer though, the 'snap-hiss' of a Lightsaber activation rang out, and both he and the sniper were bathed in pale blue-white light.

"Drop it." Maven commanded, her Lightsaber extended over the sniper's shoulder.

The rifle slowly lowered, pointing toward the ground and away from Davin. Suddenly though, the sniper holding it reared back and stomped their foot on the ground, earning a loud 'snap!' of something wooden. There was a brief groaning sound, and the sniper dove forward, right over Davin's head, rolling on the ground in front of him.

From Maven's left, a large, fast-moving object suddenly came sweeping down from the trees above, and she only barely managed to drop down to the forest floor to avoid it. She shut down her Lightsaber, and lay as flat as possible as the swinging trap sailed directly over her, missing her by mere inches. It continued along its swing, up into the branches on the opposite side, then came back down again in a pendulum motion. Davin looked up ahead of him to find the sniper had already spun around, the blaster rifle pointed directly at his face now. He looked past the weapon at the netting-covered face, trying to see past the camoflage. He noticed a faint glow of bright blue eyes behind it.

There was another pause, and Maven lay still, knowing she had to worry about the pendulum trap swinging above her AND the sniper that had the drop on both of them now. Davin stared through the mesh mask in front of him, waiting for a reaction… Hoping it wouldn't be to pull the trigger.

"Davin Creel…" The sniper said, lowering the rifle and standing up.

Davin slowly stood up as well, holding his hands out to the side and flashing an expectant smirk. He'd braced himself, but the punch that followed still hurt. A lot. Pain shot through his jaw, and he grimaced, grabbing at his cheek and groaning.

"Whatever idiotic scheme you're hatching this time, I want no part of it, Creel." Banshee hissed, her tone making his name into an expletive.

She pulled the mesh mask aside, revealing her pale skinned, pointy-eared head to them for the first time. Those bright blue eyes glimmering beneath the brim of an urchin-style cap, which the mesh had been perched atop. It was the face of an Arkanian. As the pendulum finally began to slow its momentum, and with the rifle no longer on them, Maven rolled to a safe spot, and stood up, brushing the forest debris off her weather-proof poncho.

Banshee glared at her, and pointed her index finger at Maven, looking at Davin as she continued. "And you show up with Imperials of all people…" She said angrily. "Is this some kind of suicide thing? Because there's plenty of quicker ways to kill yourself than pissing off a sniper."

"Not many." Davin said, shrugging.

The Arkanian rolled her eyes. "You better have a damn good reason for being here, or else you'll get that quick death very soon…"

"The First Order." Davin said, standing up before her. "We're going on a hunt."

It was quite possibly the only eight words that would have spared Davin's life at that moment, and he knew it. She paused, looking from him to Maven, then glancing over her shoulder at the squad down below, holding their position as Maven had instructed them to.

"On a hunt?" She asked. "With the Remnant?"

"Not officially." Maven said. "I'm acting on my own."

"Ah, so you've got a personal problem with them… Don't we all." She spat. "Why come to me?"

Davin scoffed, and motioned to the area around them, littered with traps and a recently dead scout and two soldiers. "Doesn't this kind of answer that question?" He asked. "We need someone with your skills."

"You certainly do… But that doesn't mean I'm willing to help." She said. "What's in it for me, besides getting to blast some bucket heads…? Which I can do on my own just fine."

"We're going for something more than that." Davin assured her. "Just hear us out, that's all I ask."

For a time, she said nothing, she just pressed the butt of the rifle to the ground, and leaned against it as she thought. She eyed Davin carefully, and he could practically see all the memories of their last encounter running through her mind, behind those piercing eyes of hers…

"Fine. You've got my pointy ear. For now." She said at last, shouldering the rifle, and marching up to her sniper perch to collect her things. She called back over her shoulder after a few paces. "Don't screw with me though, you've already seen the limits of my mercy…"

Maven sighed, looking down the hill at her troops and motioning for them to stand down. They seemed uneasy still, but they did as they were told, tending to their downed comrades, but she knew there was little they would be able to do except carry them back to be laid to rest… She glared at Davin, who seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.

"It's worthit." Davin said. "If you want this job done right… It's worthit."

CHAPTER V: Proposals

Davin could feel the tension in the room. It hung thick, like heavy, humid mist in a swamp in the dead of summer… He could feel the eyes on his back, and knew they were all waiting to hear from him. Eager to know why they'd gone against their better instincts to steer clear of the Remnant with all their ability…

He hoped they would find it as worthwhile as he did.

"Alright, so no more vague games… No more hints…" Davin said, turning to face the group. "Here's where we get to the point of all this."

Assembled before him in the secondary mess hall of the Stormbreaker, was the rag-tag group that they had essentially flown from one side of the Galaxy to the other in order to recruit. Jed sat cross-legged on the edge of the table, eyeing him intently, his electronic eye whirring to track him as he paced before them. Next to him, in a seat, sat Tynnael, better known as Banshee, still clutching her sniper rifle, resting on the floor next to her, her hand gripping the barrel tightly. Beside her, next to the bench, stood Maven herself, watching as always. Davin went to open his mouth to speak, but the mess hall doors suddenly opened, and everyone turned to see who was coming in.

The heavily armored form of Waric Bastra entered, decked-out in oldschool Clone Wars-era repeater troop armor, with extra plating added to the left side and pauldron. He had a sawed-off blaster rifle strapped to his hip as if it was a pistol, and a massive customized cannon strapped to his back, which looked like it had been a gunship laser cannon converted to a portable weapon. Davin smirked as he saw him, and Waric returned the grin, winking as he made his way to the seating area with the others.

"Yeah yeah…" He said. "So I guess running a bar isn't as exciting as I made it look…" He said, leaning against the pillar beside the table where everyone had gathered.

Davin was glad he'd had a change of heart, and glanced to Maven to see if she'd known he was coming, but she gave away nothing with her facial expression. No matter though… He had business to get down to.

"You all know me." Davin said plainly, turning to face them all fully, his hands on his hips, thumbs hooked onto his belt. "Captain Davin Creel, former Imperial Stormtrooper turned independent agent, turned Rebellion Intelligence Officer, turned independent agent again…" He indicated Jed. "Designation J3-D1, by all accounts, a former Jedi of the Skywalker Academy, saved from the brink of death by advanced cybernetic modifications and enhancements. Force-user. Prefers to be called Jed."

The others looked at Jed, who nodded. Davin indicated Tynnael next.

"Tynnael Kalea Nalani, also known as The Banshee. Half-breed Arkanian outcast, trained by the Antarian Rangers themselves as a Sniper and Pilot. Excels at both. Lost her brother to the First Order when the Rangers were burned for the second time."

Davin saw her grip the barrel of her sniper rifle a little tighter at the mention of her brother. He knew she didn't like to talk about that, but he needed blood to be boiling for what he was about to propose. Next he indicated Waric.

"Space Pirate from Ord Mantell. Commander of his very own gang of raiders, until the First Order massacred his entire crew, shot him out into space on a sabotaged escape pod, then went through the trouble of going back to Ord Mantell to slaughter the rest of his gang, and burn his base to the ground."

Waric's façade of devil-may-care attitude slipped a moment. Davin eyed him straight on. He saw that he'd hit a nerve with him too. Finally, he indicated Maven, who remained standing at attention.

Commodore Maven Nyrakis, Imperial Remnant Council member, put through the Imperial Academy by Darth Vader himself, trained in the ways of The Force, holds a firm adherence to the gray philosophy."

As with Tynnael, he could see her get visibly irritated at his mention of her personal history. He knew these people didn't want their business aired out in front of others… Much less strangers. That didn't matter now though, because they were all the same, and they all needed to know that.

"Now, as you're all aware, there's this big bad element coming out of the Unknown Regions… With some pretty deep roots in the Old Empire." He saw the others flick their eyes to Maven briefly, but returned to him a moment later. "Fact is, though… They're worse than the Empire ever was. All the rumors you've heard about them are a hundred percent true. Burned the Jedi Academy, killed the Antarian Rangers, been trying to absorb the Imperial Remnant, and have committed wholesale genocide on any species or planet that gets in the way of what they believe to be a pure rebirth of the Empire."

He let his words sink in a moment. The First Order was fairly well known to the outer rim regions of the Galaxy, but very little was known about their exact strength, or intention. Most of their activities had been kept to the Unknown Regions, enslaving planets and taking children to be programmed as Stormtroopers.

"So. What brings us all here today?" Davin asked, holding his arms out to the sides questioningly. "Balance. Payback."

The eyes watching him were paying very close attention now. He was speaking their language. He smirked, and narrowed his gaze.

"Thanks to some resources generously donated anonymously from the Remnant… We're gonna be dropped into the Unknown Regions, where the highest concentration of First Order activity has been reported. Once we're out there, we're gonna be doing one thing, and one thing only… Killing them."

As if a switch had flipped, everyone's faces grinned a bit. Davin kept his face serious, but let just a hint of facetiousness leak through in his tone.

"Now… I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't survive countless shootouts, fist-fights, death traps and a blasted Galactic Civil War just to have some fanatical bunch of Ewok-humping, Dark side thumping cowards come along, burn it all down and get away with it."

He paced, looking at each of them one-by-one. "They're the foot soldiers of a bunch of Jedi-hating, freedom-destroying mass murdering psychopaths, and they need to be destroyed."

He leaned in toward Tynnael, smirking. "That's why every single gundark-faced goon we find wearing a First Order crest, or one of those new buckets… Well… They're gonna die."

As much as she had tried to pretend to be there against her better judgement, and as much as she claimed to detest Davin and his 'schemes' as she'd called them… She couldn't help but show a bit of sick glee in her eyes. Her fingers tightened around her sniper rifle again, but this time, it was an eager, almost playful kind of grip, as if reassuring it; 'soon… soon'.

Davin leaned back, and crossed in front of Waric next.

"The First Order has dominated the Unknown Regions and bullied their way into the Outer Rim to make a name for themselves… Their war machine has thrived through the use of murder, torture, intimidation and terror… So that's exactly what we're gonna do to them. We will be cruel to the Order. They will find the evidence of this cruelty in the dismembered and disfigured plastic men we leave behind us…"

It was now Waric's turn to experience the same sick glee Tynnael had. He knew all too well the lengths that The First Order went to when they decided your life was worthless to their new regime… He'd seen the dismembered and disfigured forms of his crew… His friends that he'd known since he could remember… His hand gripped the handle of the vibrodagger in his scabbard absently.

Davin looked up to find Jed watching him intently. He hadn't been sure how this agenda would strike him… Jed was usually pretty level-headed, and fancied himself something of a do-gooder… At least, that's how he'd been when Davin had first known him. Now though, he seemed to have adopted a sort of lone gunslinger attitude, and that had been the main reason that Davin had invited him to join their little party of doom.

"And their Stormtroopers won't be able to help themselves, but imagining the cruelty that their brothers endured at our hands… and our boot heels… And the edge of our knives… And when they go to sleep at night, with all that fancy programming and fanatical poodoo they've so whole-heartedly embraced their whole lives still running through their heads… They'll think twice about the cost of rolling over the weak and the disenfranchised…"

That had done it. Jed's mostly human face twitched a bit, and his eye whirred in such a way that Davin had come to recall as being almost a way of expressing excitement, even when Jed tried to keep his emotions in check. There was also a metallic 'click, click, click' of Jed's robotic finger tapping on one of his Lightsaber hilts on his forearms. He had him too. Davin turned, stepping away from them all a few paces, and his hands hooked his belt once more. He took a breath, and straightened his back, still looking away.

"Sound good?"

There was no verbal confirmation, there was only the rapid 'whomp whomp whomp' that Davin could all-too-well recognize as blasters and blades rapping against metallic surfaces. He smirked, and turned back to look at them all, still banging their weapons down rhythmically in enthusiastic agreement.

"That's what I like to hear." He said. "However! A word of warning for all you would-be-warriors…" He said, holding up his gloved hand, extending his exposed index finger. "When you join up, you take on a debt, a debt to ME personally…" He said, punching his chest armor plate roughly, right on the forehead of the nerf skull he'd inscribed there. "Each and every one of you under my command owes me one hundred smashed bucket-heads." He said, narrowing his eyes once more and stepping toward them. "And I WANT my buckets!" He said, anger seeping into his tone. He'd riled them all up, but sofar it had been a detached amusement that had come from him… Now he couldn't help himself. The rage was there, boiling just below the surface, and threatening to burn him up inside. "Taken from the heads of one hundred dead Stormtroopers! And all of you will get me my one hundred buckets… Or you will DIE TRYING."

Pallaeon felt the sweat on his neck, just where his uniform collar was. The streaming vortex of hyperspace whizzed by the viewport outside the bridge of the Star Destroyer, almost in a hypnotic way to his heavily distracted mind… He had kept the location of the Maw Installation a secret for so many years now… Unwilling to hand it and its resources over to the New Republic or the Imperial Remnant, for fear of what either side might do with it… Now, as he stared out at the beautiful chaos of hyperspace, as they raced toward that very Installation, surrounded by First Order troopers… He wondered why he'd finally changed his mind.

Had he been hoping for something like this all along? Had he been waiting for someone worthy of carrying on the Imperial legacy to come forward that he could simply hand the keys to the kingdom to? Pallaeon had no delusions, he knew what waited for them there among the cluster of black holes surrounding Kessel…

It was nothing short of an assured victory.

Furthermore, handing it to a group like The First Order would mean he was effectively murdering the Republic in doing so, and this troubled him.

He had no love for The Republic or its leaders, but though he knew that The First Order was born of the old guard's teachings of The Empire itself, he really still had no idea who this 'Supreme Leader Snoke' was, or what his true intentions would be… Would he overthrow the Republic and return the Empire to the seat of power under the banner of The First Order? Or would he simply terrorize and utterly destroy those who had brought down the Empire, plunging the Galaxy into Civil War as he had seen years before?

Pallaeon adjusted his uniform and sighed. No. He had made the right decision. He wouldn't be around forever, and when he passed, he had to leave behind a legacy besides the pitiful, arguing rabble of poor excuses for Imperial Officers that made up the Remnant Council… He refused to simply let the legacy of his Empire fall to such shame and disgrace. He'd fought too hard and too long to accept such a…

Pallaeon frowned, and looked slightly downward at the floor. He felt dizzy… Mentally exhausted, and unsteady in his thoughts. Was he being influenced? He looked around the bridge, at the various black-clad First Order officers and operators buzzing about the bridge, doing their duty, mostly ignoring his presence. He looked at the Stormtroopers standing at attention, guarding the entrance to the bridge. He looked at his own Stormtroopers, still wearing the older model armor from the Imperial Era… Then he looked at the Knight of Ren.

He'd seen the black helmet-clad figure wandering the ship, not performing any specific function, but those that encountered him clearly feared and avoided him. The behavior and appearance of the individual had conjured up images of Darth Vader from his memories… the Lightsaber-like object clipped to his belt did not help assuage these likenesses, but he assumed that was the point. He'd heard of these Knights before… Another in a long line of dark side worshiping groups that had come before. He recalled the Acolytes of the Beyond, years ago, who had obsessed over trying to acquire the Lord Vader's Lightsaber, and multitudes of other dark side and Sith related relics… They'd become a problem before long, and he wondered… Could these Knights of Ren be linked to them? Furthermore… Could they use The Force? If that was the case, had he somehow been compromised by them, and compelled to lead The First Order to the Maw Installation?

Pallaeon felt that horror wash over him, and he looked around the bridge at the efficient, driven individuals buzzing about. Were they all under the control of the Dark Side? Was it possible to influence people on such a large scale, with such effectiveness? He knew little about The Force itself, beyond the maelstrom of rumors and myths told about it, and those who could wield it… But it would hardly be the first time that the Empire had been guided by a shadowy hand, using The Force as puppet strings… Soon though, those thoughts faded, and his trained, cool head prevailed, even as his gaze drifted back to the Knight, standing at the entrance to the bridge. He turned away as the three horizontal slits of the Knight's visor turned to meet his gaze, and Pallaeon shook his head.

No. He was here because he wanted to be there… He knew The Empire could rise again, and he was going to do anything he had to do in order to make that happen. It was his choice. Wasn't it?

The proximity alert was issued, and the destroyer began to drop out of Hyperspace, the bright, swirling vortex returning to normal space outside… Though now, after several micro-jumps, they'd finally arrived at the cluster, and rather than the tiny pinpoints of starlight outside, most of the viewport was now filled by the breathtaking sight of hundreds of Black Holes, all cluttered together, bending light and time itself into them. Somewhere, beyond that wall of certain death, through a very narrow pathway of safety that only a select few knew about… Including Pallaeon. There, waited the Maw Installation, and hopefully, Admiral Daala herself.

"Admiral on the bridge." The staff sergeant called.

Daala hardly heard him as she quick-marched onto the bridge, ignoring the salutes she received. She gazed out the viewport, and there, out beyond the facility and all its various work satellites and construction platforms, she saw it… A single Star Detroyer emerging from the cluster of black holes, ever surrounding their hidden facility.

Daala could hardly mask her excitement, and her eyes stared widely at the approaching site. It was an Imperial-class vessel, and bore no markings… Which meant it had come here in secret, and as it had not hailed them ahead of time, whoever was onboard knew of their communications silence orders.

Daala quickly turned and began ordering the crews and staff to be prepared. She did all this on auto-pilot, and her orders were carried out as such as well. The last 20 years had not been spent idly standing by… They'd done drills for this every week without fail, and though after all this time, her original troops were a bit more seasoned than the rest of the Imperial Stormtrooper forces… They were unparalleled in their discipline, and the long-standing isolation had even resulted in an entire generation of young Stormtroopers, born and raised at the facility, born from Stormtroopers, technicians, scientists and officers alike… They'd all become something of a family over the last two decades.

Daala watched as The Gorgon moved into a friendly intercept position, port-side facing the approaching Destroyer. Around them, The Basilisk, The Hydra, and The Manticore all moved into similar positions, as if prepping a parade ground presentation. Daala smirked to herself at the prompt and on-the-fly response capabilities of her people. She hoped Tarkin was watching right now… It had all been for his benefit.

She turned and headed off the bridge, calling for her shuttle to be prepped for immediate departure. Behind her, she heard following footsteps, and soon, Commander Kratas' voice inquired from a few paces back.

"Admiral…" He began, matching her pace with some effort. "Shouldn't we try to hail them?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Absolutely not." She said pointedly. "Our orders of non-communication still stand, until we have been told otherwise." She couldn't help but smirk again as she stepped into the turbolift that would take her down to the hangar bay.

Kratas looked less-than-pleased at this response. "But Admiral… We don't even know who we're welcoming yet." He insisted.

"Commander…" She said, feigning insult to her tone. "We haven't waited all this time just to break our orders at the last minute, now have we?"

The doors to the turbolift closed, cutting off any potential reply he may have had, which was just as well, because Daala was finished debating the issue. She had more important things to do, and a much more important person to see.

The last decade had not been an easy one for her… There had been many MANY times when she'd considered breaking her orders, and sending a communication to her mentor, or even contacting The Emperor directly. She saw her reflection on the inside of the turbolift doors, saw the greying streaks running through her long braid, draped over her shoulder, down the front of her olive uniform as always. She saw the slight hints of wrinkles around her eyes, the toll that the burden of leadership took on those that truly did their duty…

Now though, her time had come. She could feel it.

The journey in her personal shuttle from the hangar of the Gorgon to the facility's main docking bay felt torturously longer than usual… When the landing gear finally touched down, she was on the ramp before the depressurization vents had even hissed, and halfway down it before it touched the ground. She saw the other shuttle coming in for a landing, her troops were already assembled, and at attention in their proper rank orders. She gave them all a quick, yet she knew, unnecessary, look up and down the rows. Their uniforms were all properly pressed and straight, their armor polished and perfectly secured… It was all perfect.

She stood at attention, her officer corps falling into place at her flanks. She pushed her shoulders back, and held her head high, her hands at her sides. Finally, the Lamda-Class shuttle came to a rest on the deck, and the ramp hissed, dropping down from the underside of the ship. She saw figures descending, and her spirits soared higher than ever… Until they crashed down once more.

Figures she did not recognize disembarked the shuttle. They all wore black uniforms of a style she was unfamiliar with, but looked vaguely Imperial… The insignia on their shoulders was also vaguely Imperial as well, and yet… Wasn't. She stared at the newcomers, her jaw clenched. Who were these beings? She asked herself silently. They all approached her in a straight line, and that was when she saw the first familiar shape appear at the top of the ramp.

It was Admiral Pallaeon.

Daala stood up a bit straighter as Pallaeon and his entourage approached her. He smiled warmly at her, and she forced a pleasantry-fueled smile of her own. She did indeed know who Pallaeon was… A lackey of Grand Admiral Thrawn from what she'd remembered… Why wasn't Moff Tarkin here? Her gut tightened up as her mind finally allowed her to examine a fear she'd had from time-to-time the last decade… What if Tarkin had died? Surely if he'd been ill, or succumbing to age, he'd have set up some kind of contingency for his successor. Perhaps that was why Pallaeon was here. but if Tarkin had died suddenly… Had that been the cause of two decades of isolation?

She fought back the feeling of premature mourning, and nodded her head respectfully to Pallaeon as he approached. "Admiral." She said, looking back up at him again.

"Admiral." He said back, smirking behind his now grey mustache. "It's been far too long."

"For us as well…" She said, clasping her hands behind her back.

From what she could tell, she and Pallaeon were at the same rank, though the rank badge on his chest was a bit different in arrangement than hers, implying that there was some kind of new classification system she wasn't aware of…

"Unfortunately, I bring some long-overdue, and rather saddening news…" He said, placing a hand on her shoulder to turn her and begin walking further into the hangar bay.

His entourage followed, and Daala felt a suspicious twinge when she looked at the strange new Stormtroopers that followed him… Why were two of them in the old style and the rest in this new armor? Was the old armor reduced to mere ceremonial use now? Or was this something more sinister? Was the Admiral being held hostage?

They made their way into the interior of the facility in silence. Daala had many questions, and his 'saddening news' comment hadn't done anything to ease her worry, but she held off until they were in the privacy of her conference room. Given Pallaeon's mutual silence… It seemed to be quite bad news. The new-style Stormtroopers waited outside, and the two officers were only accompanied into the room by Pallaeon's personal guards in the armor Daala was familiar with, the armor all her men wore.

"Grand Moff Tarkin, Lord Vader, and Emperor Palpatine himself have all been killed." Pallaeon said, wasting no time.

Daala's blood froze in her veins, and her knees wobbled a bit, so she had to touch the high-back of one of the chairs to keep herself from stumbling. Pallaeon turned to face her, sympathy in his eyes that seemed genuine enough. Daala couldn't feel her face or her hands, and she struggled to find the obvious questions she needed to ask, yet couldn't seem to grasp.

"Dead?" Was all she could muster, and she felt stupid for being unable to get at more than that.

Pallaeon nodded. "Yes. Some time ago."

Daala blinked. "How long?" She asked, the icy cold of grief giving way to something a bit hotter, and more aggressive.

"It's been quite awhile…" Pallaeon said, holding up his hands as if to brace her. "This may come as a shock-"

"How. Long?" She repeated, her jaw tight.

Pallaeon sighed, straightening up a bit, clearly trying to use training and discipline to help her through this revelation process. It wasn't entirely ineffective, Daala felt her own back instinctively straighten, and a bit of that hot-bloodedness cooled to a more temperate level.

"It's been about 20 years now…" Pallaeon said. "Moff Tarkin perished aboard the first Death Star when it was destroyed, while The Emperor and Lord Vader died during the destruction of the second."

"Second?" Daala asked. She wasn't sure why she'd clung to that detail in particular, but it stuck out for some reason. "I had no idea they'd built a second."

Pallaeon nodded. "The initial designing had begun almost as soon as the first one was complete." He explained, pacing around the table thoughtfully. "Probably Moff Tarkin's way of doubling down… I know he was in something of a power struggle with ISB Director Krennic at the time. It's possible he wanted to ensure that, if Krennic took command of the first Death Star, he would have his own… Unfortunately, neither man outlived the battle station… It was destroyed by the Rebel Alliance."

Daala turned toward the conference room table in the center of the space, placing her hands on the back of the chair in front of her for support.

"Who runs the Empire now?" She asked.

Pallaeon hesitated, and though she didn't see it, he glanced at the closed door to the conference room, clearing his throat a bit. He then adjusted his uniform and returned his tone to one of pleasantries.

"There is a new regime in place… For a time there was a Council, but now there is one who calls himself The Supreme Leader. He has his own hand-picked officers known as his First Order, all legacy officers, descended from those who were in charge when The Emperor and Vader were killed aboard the second Death Star."

Daala looked at him and furrowed her brow. "Where did this 'Supreme Leader' come from?" She asked, not liking the fact that he'd tried to gloss over it. "Why did the Empire choose to follow him?" She continued, then narrowed her eyes at the other. "Why did YOU choose to follow him?"

"Much about him is classified, I'm afraid…" Pallaeon said. "What I can tell you is, he is a Force user, and has a great deal of power backing him."

"Lord Vader was a Force User as well…" Daala said. "As were the various Dark Jedi that the Emperor employed in secret… His Inquisitorius was oft whispered about, and I myself saw those red blades walking around from time-to-time before I was stationed here." She said, moving around the table to approach him. She was determined to get answers. "Was this 'Supreme Leader' formerly one of those?"

Pallaeon shifted uncomfortably under her piercing, focused gaze. "As I said, many things about the Supreme Leader are classified, for his own protection. You understand." He said. "With the Rebels now in control of the Galaxy-"

"-The Empire has FALLEN as well?" Daala said, her eyes widening. "How did this happen? When last I saw, the Rebellion barely had a fleet, and from what you tell me, within the span of a few years they managed to raise an army big enough to destroy two super weapons, and topple the Imperial Fleet?"

Pallaeon nodded. "Yes." He said, a haunted look crossing his face, implying that he'd been there for much of it. "The Emperor's death shattered us… We fought amongst ourselves for a time, and the useless Imperial Council accomplished nothing… That is why this First Order has been allowed to lead us now." He said, turning away to look out the viewport occupying the wall opposite the doorway.

Outside the transparisteel window, the conference room boasted a perfect view of the construction yards, and assembled around the extended arm of the research facility were the superstructures and a few complete forms of massive weapons that had been constructed over the years, but never picked up. Daala gazed at them once more, seeing them with Pallaeon's presence was a different experience, as she'd seen them for such a long time, but knew that her position was not to fathom uses for them… Simply to guard them. Pallaeon looked at them as if they were some sort of salvation… The Empire must indeed have been in dire straits.

The conference room doors opened once more, and another figure entered, one of the black uniform-clad men she'd seen before. Outside the door though, she caught a glimpse of another figure that she HADN'T seen before… From the corner of her eye, she thought she'd been looking at Lord Vader, but he was definitely too short, even from her long-stretched memory she knew that much… He did indeed have on a black outfit, and wore a helmet of some kind… The doors slid shut once again though, blocking her view of him again, and her mind seemed to drift away from thoughts of him, back to the issue at hand. The newcomer smiled at her and approached, saluting her.

"Admiral Daala." He said, standing at attention.

She paused, looking him up and down briefly, then returned his salute.

"May I present General Kerec." Pallaeon said. "The highest ranking General within the new regime."

"General…" She said simply.

"It is an honor to meet you." Kerec said, that same untrustworthy smile crossing his face once again. His perfectly slicked-to-the-side hair, his pale complexion, his uniform, like the other new ones Daala had seen, seemed to be too tight fitting… As though they wanted their officers to be uncomfortable, yet the ones she'd seen wearing them looked all-too-willing to be put in such discomfort. There was something terribly alien about it all. The Empire had been about dignity, confidence, and discipline, whereas this all seemed… Fanatical.

It did not feel like The Empire.

"My condolences for what Admiral Pallaeon had to tell you…" Kerec said.

His eyebrows tilting upward in sympathy. A sympathy which, unlike Pallaeon's, did not seem genuine. Daala did not like him, his tight uniform, or his false face… However, she was still an officer in the Imperial Navy… Whatever form it now took… So she would behave accordingly.

"Thank you, General…" She said. "Perhaps you can tell me more about this new regime?"

Kerec glanced at Pallaeon, and Daala could tell he was wondering if the other Admiral had told her how classified it all was… But she was an Admiral, and he was merely a General… She outranked him, and perhaps that would be enough.

"Apologies, ma'am…" He said, shaking his head. "As I'm sure Admiral Pallaeon made you aware, I cannot divulge any additional information about The First Order's high command at this time. For security reasons, of course."

Daala's lips pursed in irritation. "Of course…" She said. "We must maintain security of information."

His false smile returned. "Very good." He said. "However, I have been authorized to inform you, that your orders have been rescinded."

Daala's brow furrowed once more. "In what way?"

Kerec's eyes widened with excitement, clearly trying to guide her own emotional status, an act which insulted her, and only served to make her dislike him even more.

"Your fleet has been granted permission to leave the Maw Installation, and engage this New Republic in battle at your discretion."

Daala blinked. "New Republic?"

"I hadn't mentioned the name yet." Pallaeon said. "That is what the Rebellion has taken to calling their new Government.

"I suppose that makes sense…" Daala said, her jaw clenching once more. "I am to receive additional ships for this venture?" She asked.

Kerec shook his head, his smile lessening to one of false sympathy once more. "Unfortunately not." He said, clasping his hands behind his back and pacing around the table. "The Fleet is stretched quite thin at this time, and we must maintain the element of surprise. Your fleet is not even in the recorded lists of our vessels, and thus would be a complete shock to the New Republic."

"Hence why you are here." Daala said, putting the pieces together. "The Rebels have you on the run, and your fleet is not enough to engage theirs in direct combat any longer, so you need a fleet that isn't being monitored to perform hit-and-fade operations that cannot possibly be predicted."

"Precisely!" Kerec said, pointing a finger at her and smiling widely. "Very clever, Admiral!"

Daala crossed her arms, her finger and thumb rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Who will oversee the Maw Installation in my stead?" She inquired.

"That is also why we have come." Kerec said. Daala eyed Pallaeon, noticing that he'd gone silent, which was odd for an Admiral to do in favor of a General. "You and all your men will be sent out on your campaign, and responsibility for the facility will fall to First Order command."

Daala turned to face him once more, arching an eyebrow. "All my men?" She asked.

"Yes." Kerec said simply.

She wanted to argue the point. She wanted to demand to know who would perform the duty changes, bring the new soldiers up-to-speed on the needs of the scientists working there, of the workers that had tirelessly built and maintained the facility and its projects… Somehow though, she just felt very tired, and overwhelmed by all the revelations that had come that day… She wanted rest. She wanted to process her thoughts. She wanted to prepare to take the fight to this 'New Republic'. So instead of pushing it, she simply nodded.

"Understood." She said.

Kerec smiled once more, his false face unable to hide the sinister pleasure he took in getting Daala to fall in line. Daala was aware on some level what had just happened, but there was little she could do about it… This First Order had the backing of The Empire, Pallaeon's presence told her that much… She was an Admiral in the Imperial Navy, and she was going to do her duty.

And now, that duty involved bringing this pathetic New Republic to its knees. No… No, not New Republic. They were still Rebels, and they would be brought down just the same.

CHAPTER VI: The Inglourious Ones

The hovertank zoomed along through the blazed trail at a slow, but steady and relentless pace. The forest around them was thick, musty, and made their Stormtrooper armor unpleasant to wear for long periods… Which was inevitably what happened in this backwater world. The First Order had sent them there a year prior to analyze whether or not the planet would be fit for a new outpost, which it had proven to be, and now that they'd established said outpost, Scout Squad Neo Three just spent their days endlessly patrolling, and wondering when they would get to move on to their next assignment.

The squad leader was named UM-0489, and he'd seen his fair share of combat in the subjugation campaigns. He knew his forbearers had subjugated his own home planet, brought the savage, lawless ways of it to an end, in favor of the pure, just, guided ways of The Order. He believed in it wholeheartedly, as he knew his men did, as he knew ALL the enlisted Stormtroopers did.

"Major." Sgt. MI-0586's voice said through his comm unit, snapping UM-0489's attention back to the present.

He turned in the narrow space to look at the two forward drivers slightly below and in front of him. "Go Sergeant."

"We have troops on the road ahead." MI-0586 informed him.

UM-0489 frowned beneath his helmet, and grabbed the macro-binoculars, pushing himself up from his sitting position in the command nook of the tank. He lifted the heavy, armored door up and stood upright. His knees croaked at him in protest and he felt his stiffened muscles release in pain/pleasure. He nodded to the four other troopers on either side of him, riding the outside corners of the tank, watching for any additional threats missed by the scanners.

UM-0489 put the binoculars to the lenses of his helmet, and gazed through them both, receiving a clear image of the two First Order Stormtroopers standing on the road ahead of them, standing near a supply crate.

"Full stop just before their position." He ordered.

"Full stop." Sgt. MI-0586's voice repeated through his comm.

The tank slowed its pace, and drifted to a halt 10 feet from where the three Stormtroopers were standing. UM-0489 set aside the binoculars.

"What are you doing out here, soldiers?" He inquired, all-business. "There's not supposed to be any patrols out here."

That's when he noticed, nearly hidden by the shoulder plate, a scorched hole in the side of the chest plate of one of the troopers on the road in front of him… The realization dawned on him, but it was too late, he already heard the 'beep-beep!' that he instinctively recognized as a Thermal Detonator.

The explosion lifted the entire tank up in the air a foot and a half, then immediately, the repulsors failed, and the tank came crashing down to the ground on its armored base. Simultaneously, one of the troopers on the road dropped his rifle, kicked the lid off the supply crate, and yanked a massive laser cannon of some kind out of it. Before MI-0586 could even issue a command, he felt his body rock from an impact behind him, and he saw a puff of discharge steam escape his chest plate as he fell forward onto the tank. Somewhere in his shock-laced mind, he knew he'd been shot in the back by a high-powered blaster rifle.

The fake trooper in the road, with the large cannon, stepped forward, and several beams of green energy shot out, merging into one constant beam, which he strafed across the tank in a horizontal swipe. It raked across one of the spotters, blasting him off the tank, and another dove for cover to avoid it as it passed just over the slumped form of UM-0489. A second trooper, on the opposite side of the tank was hit, exploding his helmet from his head and pulping his face beneath as his companion on that side leapt for cover as well. The two remaining spotters hit the ground on either side of the tank, but were both picked-off by the second false trooper in the road, who opened fire with their service rifle.

Major UM-0489 leaned hard on the top of the tank, trying to stay upright, but his strength was failing him quick. He pulled himself out of the hatch hole, and rolled off the tank, desperately trying to get to cover, knowing the tank was not secure. He hit the ground hard, gasping for air inside his helmet, and pulled his blaster pistol from its hip holster. His helmet had insulated his head from the explosion, so he could still hear and see, and he heard a strange 'snap-hiss' sound.

The sound was followed by a glow of yellow-white light as a figure in a long coat leapt out of a tree, and landed hard on top of the tank with a heavy metallic 'THUNK!' of cybernetic feet. The figure clutched a Lightsaber in one hand, and removed something from his opposite forearm with the other, attaching it to the bottom of the Lightsaber, effectively doubling the handle length. With an additional 'snap-hiss', the blade suddenly extended to double the length it had been before, and the figure immediately raised it, and brought it down, cleaving halfway through the barrel of the tank's cannon. The figure then raised his hand in a clutching motion, and whipped it toward the back of the tank. The barrel buckled, and with the melted, weakened barrel section, bent straight upward, forming an L-shape. The Lightsaber-wielding figure leapt off the tank and vanished on the other side of it.

"Fire, fire!" someone shouted over the comm. UM-0489 tried to object, to belay the order, but he could barely stay conscious.

A moment later, the tank attempted to fire on the troopers standing in front of it, but the shot exploded as the now L-shaped barrel pressurized the carbon blast bolt, and the tank rocked violently. UM-0489 heard screams of pain from his comm unit, and knew his boys hadn't died immediately, but a backfire like that would surely have destroyed the interior of the vehicle, and caused serious injury. He struggled to get to his feet, to try to help in some way, but he knew the wound was too severe to do much. Still though, he had to try.

He raised the blaster pistol in his hand, and leveled it toward the false troopers standing in the road, who were executing his own two that they'd shot off the sides of the tank. He never got the chance to fire though, as a heavy durasteel object smashed against his wrist, knocking the blaster from his grip, and he felt something in his arm break with the impact.

UM-0489 screamed and clutched his hand, falling against a tree to his left. He looked up to find a man wearing older style chest and shoulder Stormtrooper armor standing over him, with what looked like a Nerf skull painted onto the chest. He pulled a blaster pistol from his hip holster and pointed it at UM-0489's face-plate.

"You can keep the bucket on your head for now… Whether or not you keep the face underneath it is up to you…" The other said coldly.

UM-0489 didn't move, he just clutched his wrecked hand, breathing hard and fast, cringing against the pain racing through him. He could still hear his boys crying out in pain through the comm unit, wishing he could turn it off, but unable to do so. He saw behind the figure standing over him that his companions had mounted the tank now, and were dragging his men from the hatches, hurling the injured troopers onto the ground in front of the crippled vessel.

Davin yanked the Major up off the ground and hurled him down onto his knees in front of the tank, next to the rest of his men. He re-attached the vibro-bat to his back, where he'd fixed a magnetic plate to the back armor, and moved to the side, letting his team do their thing. He saw Maven and Waric remove the stolen Stormtrooper helmets that had hidden their identities, and tossed them aside. They hadn't bothered with cowls under the helmets, as they knew the disguises wouldn't be used up close.

Davin looked off toward the southwest, and saw Banshee emerge from the treeline, toting her sniper rifle on her shoulder as she approached, a blaster pistol in her hand just in case of incident. A moment later, Jed appeared from the trees as well, his weapons all put away, his right hand resting on his hip-holstered blaster pistol. The surviving First Order troops before them were all injured in some way, shape or form, their helmets had protected their hearing after the explosion though, so they could hear the Nerfherders' orders to get in line and stay put.

Davin stepped forward, standing before them, and holstering his blaster pistol once more. He waited until Maven, Banshee, Jed and Waric were all gathered around their prisoners, then he spoke up.

"Can I make the presumption that you bunch are all still conscious enough to understand me?" He asked.

The three tank operators nodded, their faces exposed beneath their half-head helmets. The two drivers and main gunner had all survived, while the comm officer had been killed in the initial detonator blast, just as they'd planned. With the Major, that made four survivors. The Major did not nod, he simply gazed up at Davin, his eye visible through a shattered Stormtrooper helmet's eye lens.

Davin glared down at him and stepped forward, grabbing hold of his helmet and yanking it off violently, ignoring the seal so it ripped the cowl in the process. The Major cringed in fresh pain as the helmet came free, and Davin went back to his original position, setting the helmet down in the dirt, then crouching down to sit on it, his armored forearms resting on his knees.

"You still all there too, Major?" Davin asked.

The Major finally nodded.

"Good." Davin said, nodding back. "Not much use talking to a bucket head if the bucket is empty, eh?"

He chuckled, and his companions all chuckled with him. Davin pulled the vibro-bat off his back once more, placing the tip in the dirt in front of him, and absently fidgeting with the handle.

"So. Let's get right down to it, shall we?" Davin began, looking up at the Major. "You lot know who we are?"

The Major nodded this time. "You're those Nerfherders everyone talks about."

The others commenced in a series of quiet whoops and hollers of approval at the mention of the group's unofficial name. They'd been given the title by the First Order during the several months they'd been active in the Unknown Regions, performing various guerilla style missions against First Order outposts, camps and scouting parties.

"Correct." Davin said, nodding. "And if you've heard of us, you also probably heard that… well… we don't take prisoners. Which means, we either kill you, or we let you go."

Davin let that sink in a moment, eyeing each of the First Order troops before him one at a time. The rest of the tank crew looked terrified, and were all young, as was customary with most First Order troops. The Major, however, was a bit older, clearly someone who'd been around the block, maybe even a former Imperial. He didn't look scared, he just looked furious.

Davin relished the look of fury on the other man's face, but knew he would get fear out of it by the end. He tapped the vibro-bat on the ground a few times, knowing that they'd heard about what he did to their kind with it…

"Now, I gotta tell ya, friends…" Davin said, raising the bat up, pretending to examine its surface. "We don't let very many go, as you've probably heard… So you're gonna have to give us something pretty damn good to get us to go that route. Furthermore… No matter how this conversation shakes out… Not all of you get to walk outta here alive."

One of the drivers, who had begun to pant heavily from stress by this point, suddenly shoved himself to his feet, and bolted for the treeline. Nobody moved, except for Jed, and only his hand moved. There was a quiet sound of leather on gunmetal, then a blaster discharge, and the body of the driver hit the ground hard before he even reached the treeline, a smoking hole burrowed into the back of his head. Jed spun his blaster expertly on his finger before easing it back into the holster a moment later.

"Hm." Davin said. "Well, that certainly gives you three better odds…" He smirked.

"Just do whatever you're going to do." The Major said. "Stop toying with these boys."

"Boys?" Banshee said, stepping forward. "Is that what you call them?" She demanded. "These BOYS and you single-handedly massacred an entire village of people thirty-five clicks north of here not twelve hours ago… Or did that slip your mind?"

The Major looked at her and scoffed, looking back at Davin. "Tell your pointy-eared Arkanian whore to shut-"

That was as far as he got though, because before he could get the next word out, Banshee had closed the distance between them, and was crouched, her face centimeters from his, the tip of her vibrodagger jabbing into his chin just enough to draw blood. He froze, and Davin saw the faintest hint of fear in his eyes.

That was a start, but it wasn't enough yet.

"I'm sorry…" Banshee said, motioning with her head back to her original position. "Maybe my pointy ears couldn't hear you well enough from all the way over there… What was that you were saying?"

The Major remained silent, and his eyes flicked to the other Nerfherders, as if he was trying to suss-out whether or not this would be allowed.

"I'd recommend an apology." Maven said with a smirk.

"I…" The Major said, practically choking on his words. "I'm sorry." The apology was so overtly forced, and kept so quiet they could barely hear it, but it had come out nonetheless.

"How polite of you." Banshee said, grinning and rubbing her nose against his cheek. "Manners are so important. I'm something of a stickler for them."

She pulled the blade away, and returned to her spot in the flanking circle.

"Gotta be honest…" Waric said, leaning in toward The Major. "Odds aren't boding well for you walking…"

This earned another chuckle from the Nerfherders, and Davin cracked a smirk. "Alright alright…" He said, raising his hands to quiet the others. "Let's get back to business." He stood up, and approached the men on their knees in front of the tank, resting the tip of the vibro bat on the Major's shoulder. "We're expecting another patrol to come around looking for you boys in a few hours, when you're declared overdue… Problem is, we haven't gotten a look at them just yet, so we need to know how many there'll be, and what kind of artillery they'll be packing."

The Major clenched his jaw, and did not look at him. "Why? So you can ambush and MURDER them too?"

"You're not exactly in a position to call anyone else a murderer…" Jed said, his eye whirring loudly beneath his wide-brimmed hat. "I scanned that village you blew away, and there are precisely two hundred and sixty three dead people left in your wake… And that's just from today. We know you've done just as bad in other places this last year…"

"Frag you, and your freak show." The Major said, spitting on the ground in front of Davin. "I'm not giving you anything."

Davin grinned, and stepped away, hefting the bat in both hands. The others all made 'ooooooh' sounds, and chuckled again.

"We're actually all just TICKLED to hear you say that…" Banshee said.

"Yeah, watching this part is just about as close as we get to watching the holonet." Waric added.

Suddenly, Davin spun around, and swept the vibro-bat in an upward motion, the tip striking The Major in the jaw, shattering his teeth, and knocking him onto his back. The Major's eyes bulged, and he coughed as his mouth filled with blood. Davin stalked over to stand over the other man, staring down into his eyes. Eyes now filled with, what Davin decided, was an appropriate amount of fear.

"Now we're gettin' somewhere…" Davin said, then hefted the bat over his head.

He brought the weapon down over and over onto The Major's head mercilessly, as the other Nerfherders made 'oooooh! and ahhhh!' sounds around him with each strike. The remaining two tank soldiers began to hyperventilate now as the sounds of their commanding officer's skull being bashed in filled the air. They looked at one-another, but didn't dare look back at what was happening just behind them.

Finally, Davin stepped back into view, blood coating the length of his vibro-bat, the illuminated white slits taking on a crimson glow where the blood covered them. Davin was breathing hard from the exertion, and wiped a bit of blood splatter off his face as he looked down at the other two men.

"Alright… So…" He began, crouching down in front of them.

He leaned on the bat with his left hand, and with his right, drew his Vibroblade from the scabbard, holding it out.

"Who wants to go home?"

He accentuated the question by pressing a button on the back of the hilt, and the blade sprang forward, extending to twice its length, and began to hum as energy coursed through it. The two men looked at the blade, extended between their heads, then looked at one-another.

They told him everything.

The next day, when a First Order transport touched down at the outpost, ready to deliver supplies to their comrades, they knew something was wrong when their hails hadn't been returned… This was confirmed though, when they saw the charred remains of the outpost with their own eyes. The munitions bunker had been detonated, the command post was knocked off its foundations somehow, and there were dozens of white armor-clad bodies all arranged into a circle around a First Order flag, a flag which now featured a Nerf Skull burned into the flag's center, where the crest would have been. Only two survivors were found, a tank driver and gunner respectively, with similar nerf skulls carved into their foreheads.

The subsequent debriefing of the men showed that the Nerfherders had ambushed their tank patrol, disguised as Stormtroopers, proceeded to impersonate the tank crew when their reinforcements arrived, and ambushed them as well, seeming to know exactly what kind of force they would be facing, and what call-signs to give them to put them at ease… Following this, the intact tank had been driven back to the base, rammed into the munitions bunker, and detonated. From there, it had simply been a massacre of the base by blasters, Lightsabers, vibroblades and bare hands. Oddly enough, the Nerfherders had taken all the Stormtroopers' helmets with them when they'd left…

Little did the First Order know, but those helmets soon found themselves propped up and hung along the interior bulkhead of The Inglourious, each one shattered, blasted, or otherwise damaged in some way, and each bearing the names of one of the Nerfherders. A tally was also kept, to track the progress of how many helmets each of them had personally collected to pay off their 100 helmet debt.

Currently, Banshee was in the lead, with Waric following close behind.

CHAPTER VII: Turncoat

Security Officer CO-0987 sprinted down the corridor, struggling to reload the power pack on his blaster rifle, but his nerves were shot by that point, so his hands continued to fumble the attempt. He stole a glance over his shoulder, further slowing down his reloading attempts, and saw that the hallway behind him was empty. He knew they were coming though.

The Nerfherders had been terrorizing their forces for months now, and all sorts of stories had abounded throughout the ranks of The Order since their arrival. Some believed they weren't even living beings, but some kind of vengeful Jedi spirits, risen from the dead to exact revenge for what The First Order had been doing to Force adepts… CO-0987 hadn't put much stock into such things before, but now, with the relentless, brutal savages on his tail, he couldn't help but picture all those holo images he'd seen… The ones of his fallen comrades unlucky enough to cross paths with the Nerfherders. Even those that survived still walked away 'marked' by them, and the ones that didn't… Mostly had to be identified by their ID numbers, as their faces weren't much help.

A blaster bolt whizzed past him, missing him by a very small margin, and CO-0987 instinctively ducked, stumbling a bit as he ran. He stole a glance back once more, and saw them. Creel, the leader, fired at him once again with what looked like an A-280 in rifle configuration. Beside him, a longcoat-clad droid drew twin blaster pistols and opened fire as well, the shots peppering the floor and walls around CO-0987, barely missing him. He saw more of them entering the hallway behind him before he forced himself to turn and focus on running. His heart lifted a bit as he saw the open blast doors ahead, leading to his destination, and possible salvation. CO-0987 rushed into the security room, and a uniformed Stormtrooper turned to face him, raising his rifle instinctively.

"S.O. CO-0987!" He shouted, raising his hands.

The Stormtrooper quickly lowered his rifle, and CO-0987 turned, trying to close the blast door, but it did not respond.

"What is going on here?!" CO-0987 shouted in a panic, slapping the button a few more times. "Is the power cut?"

"There's some kind of override in place." The trooper said, turning back to the control console. "Blast doors are all inactive, open or closed, none of them are responding."

"We need to get them operational!" CO-0987 said, rushing to the console as well. "The majority of the Stormtroopers must still be sealed inside the barracks!"

He began frantically hitting switches and trying to access the manual override. Suddenly, a blaster bolt sailed past him, hitting the wall a few feet to his right, exploding against it and sending a shower of sparks raining down onto him. CO-0987 jumped and spun around, raising his rifle and squeezing the trigger, but the weapon clicked, unresponsive.

"Blast!" He shouted, recalling that he had still not reloaded it.

CO-0987 rushed forward, taking cover next to the Stormtrooper just inside the doorway, putting the trooper between himself and the opening. He had spotted several of them rushing down the hallway, trying to reach the security center, and now he could hear them shouting to one-another, but couldn't make out what they were saying, as the trooper fired off a few blind shots around the corner.

"Why haven't you sounded the alarm yet!?" He demanded.

CO-0987 furiously yanked the power pack from his belt pouch, and was about to insert it into his weapon, but he felt the warm steel of his compatriot's rifle muzzle suddenly touch his neck, pressing against him. CO-0987 froze.

"I didn't have the access code." The trooper said.

CO-0987 slowly turned back to face him, the area now silent, except for the approaching footsteps of the Nerfherders in the hallway. The trooper pulled off his helmet, the seals hissing as they released, and revealed the face of Captain Hermey Silitz.

Who is Hermey Silitz?

Weeks before the confrontation in the security room of First Order relay control outpost 66459, Hermey Silitz was on month six of his incarceration, awaiting the time when The First Order would be done 'prepping' him, and ship him back to home base for him to be made an example of.

Hermey stared up at the single glowlamp illuminating his cell, yellow in color, giving everything a dim, sick looking glow, and recalled how he'd ended up there. The guard outside the cell, a young man like most of the current crop of First Order troops, glanced over at him, sneering a bit, and shaking his head.

He knew there was no way he was getting out of this cell alive, but he also could not have cared less. Hermey had been a dental medic for the Imperial Navy when Death Star II had been destroyed, throwing the entire Empire thrown into chaos. It was he who had been the young man at the time, young, dumb and full of ideas about what it meant to be a soldier, and to do one's duty for the Empire… What a crock. Even after the war had ended, he believed in doing his duty, which was why he'd gone off with the Jakku deserters. He hadn't known then, and to this day still hadn't been given a full picture of exactly what The First Order was to become, but now, in the midst of it… He knew it wasn't what he wanted.

Hearing those officers and troopers talking, even joking about all the horrible things they'd done… Hearing about the death camps… No, he could not abide that. The Empire had been draconian and hard-fisted with their rule of the Galaxy, but in his youth he'd understood the goal behind it… Order and law. This though… This was willfully genocidal at best, psychotic at worst. He'd taken down all their names… The officers had names… Found out where their quarters were… Maybe he'd been planning it longer than he thought he had, but in the beginning he only intended to talk to them, to figure out why they'd so easily gone along with the kinds of things they had been told to do, and if half the things they talked about were even true.

When he finally confronted the first man though… He knew. He knew all of it was true, and actually WORSE than he'd heard. The descriptions of the death camps, the numbers involved… Imagining the faces of those that they'd condemned to death, or even personally murdered… It was too much.

He snapped.

He hadn't even realized he was strangling the man at first, but when he DID realize it, it certainly didn't stop him. He thought about his career, about his dreams, about his entire LIFE up until that point, serving The First Order as if it was still The Empire. He felt the rage at the revelation that it would never be The Empire. People had called the old order evil, but it didn't even hold a candle to the atrocities that The First Order had done, and would continue to do… He couldn't be part of it, and he killed that man as his own private form of rebellion.

Three weeks and nineteen dead officers later, the rage hadn't subsided.

He'd stalked, gassed, and pulled all their teeth out one-by-one before finally killing them. He'd been caught red-handed at number nineteen… there hadn't even been a trial. Rather than simply putting him against the wall though, the S.O. had collectively decided to ship him back to Starkiller Base to show what happens to those who lost the faith. In the intervening months, as the preparations were made, he'd been tortured and beaten pretty regularly, whipped and worse, leaving his body a roadmap of pain, with scars for roads. They were trying to break him, but he hadn't given them the satisfaction. Not yet anyway.

The rage was still there, keeping him warm at night as he slept on the damp, dank floor of his small cell. It kept him nourished around his single meal of each day. It kept him sane during the long hours that crawled by, without seeing the outside… If he had even been sane when he arrived, that is.

Sometimes he wondered.

He heard the heavy durasteel door slide open down the hall, and he knew what time it was. He had no access to chrono's in the cell block, but he could practically have told the time based on when the S.O.'s arrived to beat him… He sighed, and rubbed his head stressfully. His hair had been shorn off crudely, leaving longer clumps in a few places, but overall retaining a buzz cut like he'd had most of his life. He slapped himself in the face a few times to get his blood pumping, so he'd be a bit sturdier mentally when they arrived.

Suddenly though, a heavy armor-wearing figure popped out of the hallway the S.O.'s usually entered through, brandishing a sawed-off blaster rifle. The loud, concussive blast, accompanied by the unstable bolt of plasma ripped into the guard closest to his cell, knocking him off his feet. Behind the blaster-wielding newcomer, the other three guards stood up, grabbing their rifles to retaliate, but the newcomer dropped to the ground in a crouch, and from the other hallway, a coat-wearing figure appeared, wielding twin blaster pistols, and in quick succession, gunned each guard down with expertly aimed shots. One per man.

The guards all hit the floor at roughly the same time, leaving the room quiet once more. No alarms sounded, no sounds of approaching clip-clop of Stormtrooper armor could be heard. Nothing. A moment later, several more figures entered the cell block. A woman in a hooded cloak, brandishing an E-11 blaster rifle, and a man in old Imperial chest, shoulder and forearm armor with a Nerf Skull painted onto the chest plate. He carried an A-280 loosely in his hand, but the vibro-bat attached to his armor back plate told Hermey who he was now looking at…

"Captain Doctor Hermey Silitz?" Davin Creel asked as he strutted over to the cell door.

Hermey nodded.

"I'm Captain Creel, and these are the Nerfherders." He said, motioning to his companions. One of them, the bearded man who had entered first, waved. "Ever hear of us?" Creel asked.

Hermey nodded again.

There was a groan, and the Nerfherders spun around to face a blaster-wielding survivor of the guard massacre. There was a 'ptew!' sound, and a hot flash of carbon whizzed by Hermey's head as a blaster bolt burned through the tiny, transparisteel window, high up near the ceiling of the cell. The bolt struck the survivor dead-on in the forehead, and dropped him back to the ground.

"Appreciate that, Banshee…" Davin said into his comm link, then clipped it back to his belt. "As I was saying…"

He leaned against the cell door, and matter-of-factly spoke to Hermey.

"We pride ourselves in the Stormtrooper-killing business, and I in particular like to think I've got an eye for that kinda talent."

"We're big fans of your work in the amateur circuit…" Waric said, with a chuckle.

The other Nerfherders in the room chuckled as well, and Davin turned to look at Hermey out of the corner of his eye. "We came here to see if you wanted to go pro."

Hermey had indeed heard of them. He'd been horrified by their actions at first, couldn't imagine the cruelty that they'd unleashed on his comrades in arms… But as that rage had built up inside him, and he'd heard about what The First Order was truly all about… He had actually come to envy these people he'd never met. It was possible that they were the reason he'd decided to strike out against his masters in the first place…

Now, as they stood before him, he saw that, masked behind all the light-hearted joking and devil-may-care attitude, there was that same rage burning within all of them.

He nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good to me." He said, then motioned to the bars. "Didn't happen to get the key code did you?"

"Got it right here." Davin said, motioning to the cyborg standing off to the side.

With a snap-hiss, a yellow-white blade ignited into existence, and the cyborg made short work of the hinges to the cell door. It toppled inward, landing next to Hermey with a massive 'THUD!'. Hermey ignored the door though, staring in wonderment at the Lightsaber that Jed clutched in his hand.

"You… You're all Jedi?" He asked. "There were rumors, but…"

Davin shook his head. "No Jedi." He said. "Some of us just have Lightsabers."

"We only have ten minutes left." Jed said, touching the side of his head, just under his hat, clearly running programs.

"Better get back into your fancy dress suit, then." Davin said. "So Doctor… You ready to go to work?"

Weeks later, Hermey smashed CO-0987's torso down onto the control console roughly, pressing the tip of his blaster to the back of his head as the other Nerfherders looked on. Banshee took up a firing position down the long hallway, using a supply crate as partial cover, as well as a rifle resting position. Jed took up a position just inside the threshold of the blast door, while Maven took up position on the opposite side. Waric stood near Banshee in case sheer numbers necessitated Banshee ceasing her sniping, and more blunt approaches were needed in the form of his portable gunship beam cannon.

"In about one minute, there will be a transmission sent to the comm center of this facility." Hermey said.

"One minute and forty-seven seconds." Jed clarified.

"Thank you Jed." Hermey said over his shoulder. "It will be taken in, re-packaged in a new cypher, then transmitted in its new, encoded format to home base."

The S.O. grimaced as the blaster jabbed him in the neck. "And what am I supposed to do with this information?" He asked, indignantly.

He masked his fear well now that the jig was up and his back was to the wall. He knew all-too-well what these people had done to his comrades, but somehow, his training was kicking in, and that deep-seeded programming he'd received since childhood was driving him to keep his cool now.

"I'd like you to make us a copy of that transmission." Davin said.

He walked over, and leaned against the console next to the S.O.'s head, digging the tip of his vibro blade into the surface, only a few centimeters from the man's face. The training wasn't quite holding him together as well now. He watched the shuddering, slightly glowing blade in front of his face, watched it scorch the finish off the console where it touched it, and more flashes of the unauthorized holo images of his comrades' maimed bodies went through his mind.

"I… I can't do that." He said, his voice shaking now. "I'm not authorized."

He was suddenly yanked back, turned around, then shoved back down onto the console, facing up at Hermey this time. Hermey pressed the length of his rifle against the S.O.'s throat, and produced a dental hydro-spanner from his belt. An instinctive shudder ran up the S.O.'s spine as Hermey leanded down, grinning at the other.

"You know I know different." He said.

"You were just a dentist!" The S.O. said, gathering a bit of indignance once again. "A crazy one, but still just a dentist!"

"Oh…" Hermey said, shaking his head. "How little you guys understand…"

Davin nodded his head to Jed, switching places with him. Jed approached and inserted his metallic fingers into the S.O.'s mouth, prying his jaw apart. The S.O.'s eyes went wide with terror, and he struggled a bit, but the two men held him firmly. Hermey tapped the hydro spanner against the S.O.'s front teeth lightly, one at a time, down the row.

"The things you all talk about when you're under the influence of pain medications and sedatives… The gossip. The official information…" He said, chuckling. "That's why the people in the medical divisions have such high scrutiny when it comes to our personal data pads and terminals… They want to make sure we don't spread the things we know. That's also why we're so well cared for within the ranks… They want to keep us happy." He pointed at the S.O.'s face and smirked a bit wider. "I even know YOU, Security Officer CO-0987… I've treated you before, and I know the things that you've done for The First Order… You weren't always a security officer."

S.O. CO-0987 froze, sweat was beading down his face now as he wondered how much he'd stupidly mumbled in his delirious state after treatment… how much Hermey knew. From the look on his face though, it was a lot.

"You were once a driver for one of the First Order's 'census officers'…" Hermey spat.

The S.O. began to tremble. He knew the fancy title didn't fool anyone, and though he knew that the First Order was doing what was necessary… Crazy people like the Nerfherders and Hermey Silitz didn't understand that… All they saw was the deeds themselves. They didn't know that Force Users were a danger to all society. They didn't understand that anyone who could become a Jedi was a risk, and needed to be removed from the population… They just didn't understand.

Hermey activated the spanner, gripping one of the S.O.'s teeth tightly, and leaned down to look him in his wide, terror-filled eyes. As righteous as he felt about The First Order, CO-0987 clearly couldn't argue with the anguish he was about to go through.

"This isn't your last chance." Hermey said reassuringly. "If you say no, and I do this, you've still got…" He said, trailing off. "Hm." He briefly stooped down and looked into the S.O.'s mouth. "Ah…" He said, returning. "Thirty two more chances… Haven't had those wisdom teeth out I see."

The S.O. started wailing incoherently, trying to nod his head against Jed's strong hands holding his upper body down. Hermey nodded to Jed, who released the other's face.

"Okay, okay…" The S.O. said. "I'll access the system and do as you wish…" He said, gripping his jaw painfully.

"Well." Hermey said, a bit disappointed. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" He asked, then flipped the hydro spanner through his fingers and expertly re-holstered it into the pouch on his belt.

Davin turned to Jed, pulling him aside so the S.O. couldn't hear as Hermey monitored the process. "How much time we got left?"

"Well, it's uncertain." Jed said.

Davin frowned. "What?"

"Well if the Stormtroopers in the barracks haven't realized how dire the situation is yet, we could have anywhere between ten to twenty minutes left. However, if they discovered the silent lock-down immediately, figured out something was amiss, and began trying to cut their way out, they could arrive…" He said, staring off into space a moment. "Now."

Everyone froze, eyeing the doorway a moment. Nothing happened.

"Ah, good then." Jed said. "I'd say between ten to twenty minutes."

Davin nodded. "Good… Let's get this all wrapped up then."

The comm station beeped, and a series of lights began to blink in a systematic order, indicating that a transmission had been received. The S.O. hit the indicator switch next to the lights, and began downloading the transmission onto a portable datapack Hermey inserted into the comm station. The process took about two minutes, and when it was done, Hermey instructed the S.O. to re-code the message and send it the rest of the way. With any luck, their plan would work, and nobody would be the wiser to what they'd taken.

"Thanks very much." Hermey said, pulling the datapack once it completed the download.

"You're going to kill me, aren't you?" The S.O. asked hesitantly, as if he didn't want to know the answer.

Hermey stashed the datapack in his belt, shaking his head as the S.O. finished sending the message to its intended destination.

"I don't see any reason to." Hermey said.

He then promptly raised his blaster rifle and shot him in the back of the head. CO-0987 hit the console hard, then collapsed into a dead heap on the floor.

"Except that you deserve it, scum…"

Hermey looked down at the corpse of the young man before him, recalling the stories he'd told when he'd come to his office. He always felt that initial ping of guilt when he killed one of these men, but it was always short… and shorter each time he did it.

CHAPTER VIII: The Next Step

As The Inglourious sped away from the planet, Davin kept an eye on the scanners to make sure no TIE fighters had launched from the facility, or from the cruiser on the far side of the planet. In theory, because no transmissions had been made, and no alarms had been sounded, the cruiser should have been completely oblivious to the situation going on below. The shuttle they'd used to land and take off from the mission drifted aimlessly back down toward the planet, where it would likely burn up upon re-entry into the atmosphere.

"I think we're clear." Banshee said, flipping the controls back to auto-pilot.

Once the computer had taken over, she then began setting a course for the hyperspace buoy they'd dropped upon arrival, in case they needed a quick getaway. The Inglourious pinged the buoy, and it fired thrusters, maneuvering itself automatically back to the ship, simultaneously feeding the current Hyperspace coordinates to their destination instantly into the nav computer.

Banshee got up, since fancy flying not needed for the relatively flawless execution of their plan. She passed by Maven as she made her way down the steps to the lounge, and Maven came up to take her place in the copilot chair, which Davin had vacated to take the main pilot seat.

"You've done well." Maven said, crossing her legs and leaning back in the chair.

"Well, let's just hope that datapack gives us what we need." Davin said, not looking at her as he made final preparations for Lightspeed.

"I'm confident it will." Maven said. "Jed is more than capable of decoding it for us, and why else would they have gone to such great lengths to keep a location so well hidden if it wasn't one of the camps?"

Davin was silent. He pushed the Hyperspace levers forward, and the ship lurched briefly. The stars outside blurred into starlines, then into the swirling vortex of Hyperspace, before the ship finally settled and the stabilizers caught up with the engines.

A thought occurred to Maven as she watched Davin busy himself with nonsensical system checks to avoid talking. The Force gave her a distinctive, chaotic reading from him.

"Are you still holding out hope that your family is alive at one of these camps?" She asked.

Davin stopped what he was doing and looked at her, a mixture of fury and vulnerability in his eyes. He pressed the little switch fixed to the bizarre medallion around his neck, and instantly, The Force vanished from around him, leaving him inside a black void of Force energy, and the senses she'd been probing him with became useless.

"Feel free to relax in the lounge…" He said, glaring at her and motioning to the doorway behind him.

She scoffed and leaned forward. "Blast it, Creel." She said, holding out her hands. "I need to know that you won't throw away the lives of this team."

"Isn't that the point of us?" Davin asked, snarkily. "To be the ones to die so your people don't have to?"

"That's low." She said, clenching her jaw. "I've sacrificed my fair share of soldiers collecting your merry little band out there…"

"And it was worthit, wasn't it?" Davin asked, finally looking over at her again. "Look, my feelings about my family's fate are my business. Just like your little personal mission hidden inside this one is yours."

Maven froze. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean." She lied.

"Please." Davin said, scoffing. "You've got a personal vendetta against the First Order same as the rest of us."

"And what, pray-tell, might that be?" She demanded.

Davin shrugged. "Hell if I know, and frankly I don't care. You see that's how this works, Nyrakis." He said. "You don't care about us, and we don't care about you. We just do our jobs and leave bigger and bigger piles of dead Stormtroopers at your feet, while you chase whatever it is you're after."

Maven had had enough, she stood up and stormed through the door to the cockpit stairwell, pausing a moment and looking back at him. "You know, Creel…" She said, leaning against the doorway. "You keep fighting hard and long enough, and you really might just end up the last man standing. Alone, broken, and without purpose."

With that, she turned and left. Davin waited until her footsteps were far down the walkway before looking after her. He stared off into space a moment, before slapping the door mechanism to shut it, and turned back to the console.

"Wouldn't be the first time…" He muttered.

Maven stalked through the lounge, nearly running into Jed in her distracted state. He grabbed hold of her to prevent her from slamming into him and she recoiled, broke free of his grip and jumped back. Jed held up his hands in a non-threatening manner, his cybernetic eye whirring loudly as it focused on her.

"No harm intended, Commodore…" He said, tilting his head to the side. "What's got you so riled-up?"

"I'm fine…" Maven said.

She instinctively went to adjust her uniform, but only then realized she was still wearing the base bodysuit from the First Order Stormtrooper armor. Her fingers brushed over the burn holes from where the original owner had met his end, and suddenly she couldn't stand wearing it any longer.

"Excuse me…" She said, and pushed past Jed.

"You know…" Jed said, holding up a hand to stop her momentarily. "We have The Force to guide us occasionally when we feel lost, but I know it doesn't always work. I may not have ears, but I can still listen."

"Fascinating lesson in your remaining biology…" Maven said, then continued on.

After a few steps toward her quarters though, she felt bad, so she turned to apologize, but Jed was already making his way towards his own quarters. She glanced off to the side, and saw Banshee and Waric in the lounge, having watched the entire incident. She rolled her eyes, and made the rest of the short journey to her quarters, shutting the door behind her, alone at last.

She leaned against the closed door, sighing, and running a hand through her hair stressfully. After collecting herself, she stood up once more, and began disrobing, ready to change back into her own uniform for her arrival back at The Stormbreaker.

Several hours later, The Inglourious exited hyperspace, and approached the small Imperial fleet assembled in standard cruiser formation over Khallidor. The ship docked inside the Stormbreaker's bay, and a moment later, the Nerfherders disembarked. Davin was still in his usual green jacket over his armor pieces, Banshee had changed into one of her three variant Ranger uniforms, Waric had shed his armor, but still wore the battered brown flightsuit he always had on under it, while Jed had retained his black robes without his coat. As soon as they descended the ramp at the rear of the ship, a male human in an Imperial combat uniform approached at a brisk pace, eyes fixed on Maven.

"Commodore." He said in a gruff tone, saluting her as she came a halt before him. "I must protest to-"

She held up a hand, silencing him. "Dahl. We've talked about this…" She said.

Dahl Keegan, captain of Maven's squad and personal bodyguard, sighed, but maintained his at-attention stance. "Apologies…" He said. "Forgive my impertinence, it's just that you've been out of contact for some time, and I must stress that we are in the midst of a crisis."

"We are always in a crisis, Dahl." She said, heading off toward the turbolift, Dahl trailing behind her.

"This time is different…" He assured her. "You should not be off by yourself so often these days. The First Order is watching, and if they find out you've openly engaged in hostilities against them-"

"They will do what, exactly?" Maven asked as they boarded the lift. "They cannot reveal their fleet's strength, if they have one, lest the Republic be forced to act against it, and if they declare war against The Remnant itself, The Republic will likewise be forced to investigate, and then will either bar them from their territories, or discover what they've been up to."

"Or they could bring in outside aid…" Dahl said.

The turbolift came to a halt and she turned as the doors opened, eyeing him questioningly. "Go on."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, Commodore…" Dahl said, leading her onto the bridge.

The officers and crew around the bridge all stopped their duties to salute as she came aboard, and then returned to their movements as she returned the salute. Dahl led her to her personal data terminal on the aft section of the space, and activated it.

"There has been a small fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers performing hit-and-fade attacks all over the outer rim territories. ONLY Republic outposts."

Maven furrowed her brow as the map of highlighted worlds came up. She shook her head.

"Who is doing it?" She demanded. "A warlord? Someone from the council gone rogue?"

Dahl shook his head. "All the Remnant forces have been accounted for." He explained. "The Republic even sent an envoy to speak with the council and oversee a count of our entire fleet."

Maven's eyes seared with anger. "They were aboard my ship!?"

Her voice echoed throughout the space, drawing a few looks from nearby personnel, but they quickly averted their eyes as she shot a glare at them.

"We were unable to contact you…" Dahl said, his tone respectful, but suggestive at the same time.

Maven sighed, resting her hands on the console. "Do we have ANY leads on the origins of the ships?" She asked. "Is this some First Order ploy to frame the Remnant?"

Dahl once again shook his head. "I don't think so. There were no markings of any kind aboard the ships…" He said, bringing up a captured holo image of the fleet in question. "This is an image from the last raid they pulled off."

Maven watched the holo recording play. A supply convoy relay space station was visible, bearing New Republic symbols in various places on its hull. A moment into the recording, several Star Destroyers suddenly emerged from Hyperspace, immediately dropping a full squadron of TIE Fighters.

The Fighters engaged the station, and its security fighters, creating plenty of chaos as several cargo freighters emerged from the Destroyers, snagging cargo containers before making a quick return to the Destroyers they'd emerged from. As soon as the cargo was collected, the Destroyers opened fire on the station. The green beams lanced out from the turbolasers, shattering the superstructure in several locations.

Just as quickly as it had begun, the TIE's disengaged, under cover of one Destroyer, as the others made their retreat jumps to Lightspeed. As soon as the TIE's had returned to the docking bay, the final ship made its own jump. Maven watched it all intently, scanning it for any kind of hints, but as Dahl had said, there was nothing. No markings, no ID stamps… And all the ships had been legitimate Imperial, no First Order knockoffs.

"So not pirates… Not First Order…" She said, then looked at Dahl, her eyes turning to slits. "They are a product of the old Empire." She said, then abruptly turned and headed off the bridge.

"How do you know, Commodore?" Dahl asked.

"They simply have to be." Maven explained as she headed up the corridor toward her personal quarters. "The ships are well kept, have no ID markings, but have also not had them crudely stricken off, which means professional Imperial work. As our ships and personnel are all accounted for, there can be no other explanation."

The two entered the office, and Maven sat behind her desk, bringing up her personal terminal, which, as a council member, gave her access to the old Imperial archives.

"Who though…" She said, bringing up the listings for Imperial Star Destroyer fleets. "This fleet would have had to have been from before the battle of Yavin, as Lord Vader was put in charge of the entirety of the main fleet at that point, to drive the Rebellion out of their base…" She said, going back to pre-Yavin data.

"The make of those Destroyers suggests that time period…" Dahl confirmed. "They were the older models."

Maven nodded in agreement. "And if their markings were removed, that means they were intended to be part of a special project…" She said, accessing related files from ISB, Director Krennic and Grand Moff Tarkin. "Krennic had a secret facility on Eadu, with his own compliment of cruisers… He would have had no use for a fleet of Destroyers…"

She exited Krennic's files, and pulled up Tarkin's next. "Grand Moff Tarkin on the other hand… He was in charge of actually PRODUCING these monstrosities for the Emperor…"

His image came up on screen, albeit a younger version of Tarkin, in a holo image taken at the time of his promotion. She quickly read through the data files on his various projects, but then she stopped, leaning back in her chair.

"What is it?" Dahl asked, trying to see what she'd seen to make her pause.

"There are no files on his project locations…"

"Perhaps they were simply a secret." Dahl suggested. "After all, much of his work was classified."

Maven shook her head. "Regardless, there should be some mention of laboratory sites, ship acquisitions and personnel reassignments… There's nothing though." She said. "A shipyard of the magnitude required for building the Death Star, much less a SECOND Death Star, and the various other weapons rumored to be worked on… That would require the protection of a small fleet of Star Destroyers…"

"You believe that one of Tarkin's details has been hiding out somewhere for twenty years?" Dahl asked. "Why wouldn't they have come forward after his death? Or in all the ensuing time since the Empire fell apart?"

She tapped her fingers together thoughtfully. "They must have been out of contact… Forced communications silence, perhaps."

She suddenly thought of something else, and began looking up other information in Tarkin's file.

"Aha." She said, smirking. "Tarkin had a rather infamous rivalry with Director Krennic of ISB, but the fact is… He had an equally infamous protégé that he spent quite a few years taking a personal, vested interest in…"

"Admiral Natasi Daala." Maven said, her arms folded behind her back.

Ahead of her, stood the Nerfherders, minus Jed, who was still working with the slicers to decode the files within the datapack. They'd assembled in the secondary war room this time, adjacent to her office and quarters, for privacy reasons.

"Never heard of her." Davin said, frowning.

He glanced over at Hermey, who shrugged and shook his head as well, indicating he was equally ignorant of the name.

"She was a protégé of Grand Moff Tarkin back during the height of the Empire," Maven explained. "She received her command shortly before quietly vanishing from the Imperial Navy, and with the rise of the Rebellion, the majority of command had other things on its mind, so none of us thought to investigate further."

"But you think she's the one running around attacking Republic targets now?" Banshee asked. "Where has she been all this time? And why now?"

"I think Tarkin sent her off to a hidden location somewhere, as a long-standing guard for a secret facility." Maven continued. "Given the time period, I'd say something to do with super weapons."

A hush fell over the room a moment as the group pondered the implications at hand. If the First Order had somehow found her, that would mean they had also found her facility… Which could mean they'd gotten their hands on a super weapon, maybe even more than one.

"So what are we supposed to do about it?" Davin asked. "We're a bit occupied at the moment."

Maven shot him an incredulous look. "This IS what you're occupied with." She insisted. "Knocking the First Order down a peg is going to be worthless if they get access to a weapon of mass destruction."

"If they're chasing one, they'll get their hands on one eventually, no matter what we do." Waric offered. "Seems like a waste of our time to get into something that big. Most likely we'd just get killed."

Maven looked at the group before her, scarcely able to believe what she was hearing. "You mean to tell me that the lot of you are completely disinterested in stopping these people from doing something that could, quite possibly, make all your previous efforts worthless?"

Banshee shrugged. "It's not like we signed up to make a difference in the Galaxy." She said. "We just signed up to hurt them, and we're doing that already."

"I put this group together so we could hold back their efforts… Not just take pot-shots at them." Maven said severely. "The purpose was to inhibit their growth until the proper forces could be gathered against them by the Republic."

Nobody bothered to respond at that point, they'd all spoken their piece. Maven nodded, finally relenting.

"Fine." She said. "It would seem our goals have diverged at this point, so if you are no longer interested in pursuing mine, kindly get off my ship."

With that, she turned, and headed out of the war room. The Nerfherders all looked at each other and issued an assortment of shrugs and sighs, accepting what they'd all considered to be an inevitable development.

Maven stalked across the bridge toward her quarters, and paused as the heavy, leather-clad metallic footsteps of Jed approached.

"Maven." Jed said, holding up a packet of files. "The decryption on those coordinates is complete."

She sighed, shaking her head. "Give them to the rest of your crew, I've more important things to deal with…"

Jed tilted his head to one side, his eye whirring thoughtfully. "What did I miss?"

"The Nerfherders are on their own now." Maven said sharply. "Their choice, not mine."

Jed glanced at the entrance to the secondary war room as the door opened and the group emerged, heading for the turbolift.

"I don't understand." Jed said. "Why?"

"They don't seem to think it is important to prevent The First Order from acquiring a super weapon." Maven explained. "I do."

Davin glanced over his shoulder, but kept walking. "I don't think it's important to go on a suicide mission that doesn't fit with our goals." He said. "We don't even know if this Daala person is working with the First Order. She could just be acting on her own, and you're just interested in the Remnant saving face." He turned as the turbolift doors opened behind him. "Well, be our guest." He said. "Stop her."

He stepped back into the turbolift, and the Nerfherders waited, eyeing Jed. He looked from Maven to the group, then back to Maven.

"I'm sorry." He said, shrugging. "I have a mission of my own, and it also involves The First Order… Not Imperial face-saving."

He headed to the turbolift with the others.

As The Inglourious left The Stormbreaker's docking bay, all of the Nerfherders were plagued by wondering if they'd made the right call. Davin certainly believed so, but the others weren't so sure. The data they'd stolen could quite possibly lead them to one of the First Order's death camps, which they'd been searching for all this time, but Maven did have a point… The First Order with a super weapon was not a desirable thought, and regardless of the fact that it seemed inevitable, later would definitely be preferable to sooner.

Nevertheless, Davin and Banshee prepped the ship for Lightspeed, and entered their new coordinates into the nav computer, and made the jump to Hyperspace.

CHAPTER IX: Turn of the Tide

Kerrec stared out the window of the conference room, surveying the shipyards before him, his back straight, arms clasped behind his back, a smirk of pride across his face. He had been a little irritated when the tech crews had told him how much upgrading the weapon superstructures would require, and the sheer amount of work that needed to be done to overhaul their systems, but it was all a worthy endeavor. When he eventually DID get the weapons moving, it would be a grand prize to present before the Supreme Leader… and a devastating blow to General Hux and his endeavors.

Kerrec shook his head as thoughts of his rival came to mind. Hux was purported to be such a forward-thinking man, a genius of tactical training, and the progenitor of the Stormtrooper generational training program… Yet his ambitions were so limited by the notion that ONLY new things should be explored by The First Order. He refused to even give credence to the idea of finding this place, let alone refitting the weapons that had already been built, just waiting for their uses. Instead, he'd focused his efforts on that silly mining endeavor on Starkiller base… Wasting so much precious time and resources. Long-term thinking was not the only way to win a war such as this.

His thoughts were interrupted as the door behind him opened, and the Knight of Ren stepped in. Kerrec saw his reflection in the window before him, but did not turn. Keeping a sense of superiority with the Knights was important for a First Order officer, otherwise they may get notions that the officers answered to THEM rather than the other way around.

"Yes, Ren?" Kerrec asked simply.

"I believe we should send a ship out to the refuse yard." The Knight replied, his voice harsh and electronic behind his helmet.

Kerrec frowned in confusion and turned to face the other now. "What? Why?" The Knight was silent. His reasoning did not require explanation. Kerrec sighed, and nodded. "Alright, alright. I'll send a squad of TIE Fighters-"

"-A dropship." The Knight interrupted. "With riot troopers."

Kerrec eyed him, raising an eyebrow. "Riot troopers?"

"Yes." The Knight said. "And I will be accompanying them."

"You think this is a serious threat then." Kerrec said, then nodded. "Alright, granted."

He turned, removing the data chip from his uniform, and inserting it into the terminal on the table near him. He punched in the approval codes, and issued clearance. "A dropship, two TIE Fighter escorts, and a full squad of Riot troopers. As requested." Kerrec said. "I trust you'll report anything to me immediately."

The Knight did not reply, he simply turned and headed out of the conference room. Kerrec frowned, and turned back to looking out the window. Far beyond the shipyard, and the superstructures currently being upgraded for system compatibility with current tech, he could just barely make out the shape of the scrapyard in question. The area had been used as a storage/dumping area for large pieces of equipment and other items that were deemed without current use, but potentially useful later on. The self-sufficiency of the isolated facility had necessitated a 'throw nothing away' mentality, and the scrapyard, floating out at the edge of the facility, a miniature planetoid at this point, was the result.

The Inglourious twisted and careened through space, following an invisible path laid out before them. Banshee's eyes darted expertly between the visual space outside, and the instruments telling her where to go. It was a hard run, one that could only be done by a pilot who knew EXACTLY where to go, or a pilot who was very VERY skilled.

The cluster of black holes that surrounded the Kessel system was legendary. An object of beauty, as well as a source of terror, just for the sheer POWER that such a formation implied. Smugglers and daredevil pilots had long tested themselves by attempting the Kessel run, a close fly-by of the black holes in order to reach the spice mining planet without taking the conventional route… usually to avoid official patrols.

However, The Inglourious wasn't headed to Kessel. The datapack they'd decrypted was currently guiding them into the very heart of the cluster itself, toward an unknown destination. When they'd first learned the location of wherever they were being taken, they'd wondered if it was a trap, some kind of trick to get them to fly right into the grip of a black hole, but there had long been rumors of things hidden inside, and it was a well-known fact that gravity wells existed within the cluster, which allowed safe passage, and even sustainable orbits between the pockets of the maw itself.

The perfect place for a secret death camp in the outer rim.

Davin sat in the copilot seat, eyeing the maw around them, trying to keep his own anxieties down. He didn't fear death, but the maw had a way of shaking even the most hardened tough guys, just from the sheer spectacle of the possible death that lurked invisibly nearby. The rest of the Nerfherders had opted to wait in the lounge, preferring not to watch, but it was just as well, because Banshee knew she would have kicked them out anyway due to their tendency to back-seat fly… This was not the time to be second guessing oneself.

Suddenly, as the ship rolled halfway over and dipped down, in accordance with the pattern playing out on her nav computer, the maw began to clear around her. The optical illusion that made the swirling vortexes appear so close was broken by a shift in perspective, one that almost made her and Davin lose their lunches in the process. Then there, ahead of them, they saw structures silhouetted against the maw. Lights as well.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Jed suddenly spoke up from the doorway behind them.

Davin turned to look at the cyborg behind him. "What do you mean?"

Jed's eye whirred as he zoomed to focus on the facility that lay ahead. "If this was a prison camp, I'm sure I would be able to feel the misery and pain of those inside it… I'm not getting that though… This is something else."

Davin turned back to look out the viewport toward the newly discovered structures. "Well either way we can't just fly in…" He said. "Let's find some place to hide out from any random scanners they might have in place."

"There." Banshee said, nodding to the starboard side of the viewport. "That mess seems like a good place to hole-up."

Davin followed her gaze, and spotted what looked like a planetoid made of junk and debris, suspended in space by gravity well projectors.

He nodded. "Yeah, scanners wouldn't be able to pick up squat between all those structures and dying power cells." He said. "Take us in."

Jed still had his gaze fixed on the station. "I don't like this." He said. "We should turn back."

Banshee turned sharply on him. "After the MIRACLE I just pulled off flying us in here?" She demanded. "I think not, metal man."

Davin eyed Jed a moment, he knew the other didn't jump to conclusions, and his feelings were usually pretty spot-on given his connection to The Force… but his ability to sense things was shaky at times, and whatever the facility that lay ahead was, it could be messing with his head. They'd come all this way, and gone through a lot to get this location, so it HAD to be investigated.

Banshee brought the Inglourious in on a wide approach, keeping the scrap structure between them and the facility far ahead, and found a decent-sized patch of bulkhead to latch onto. The scrap planetoid was so large that it actually seemed to have its own gravity, probably the result of the projectors interacting with its size. Davin was also shocked to find that the sensors were picking up breathable atmosphere outside… Not MUCH of it, but enough to sustain human life… for awhile anyway.

"I got an idea." Davin said, heading out of the cockpit. "Grab some warm clothes."

The Nerfherders made their way through the jumbled mess of parts, vehicles, and other junk littering the surface of the makeshift planetoid they'd landed on. The bulkhead beneath their feet seemed to have belonged to a light cruiser of some kind, something that had been decommissioned long ago. They'd all wrapped themselves in heavy-duty coats, thermal flightsuits, and breathing masks just in case. While there WAS air present, it was thin, and could have been filled with noxious gases from the scrap scattered about, so they'd opted for a 'better safe than dead' approach.

Banshee began to unpack her high powered macro-scope, intending to use it as a way to survey the facility when the scrap planetoid rotated to reveal it.

"Judging by the rotation speed…" Banshee said as she unfolded the tripod, her voice sounding slightly electronic through the comm speaker on the outside of it. "We should have about twenty minutes to take a look at the place before we lose sight of it."

Davin nodded, adjusting his mask. "Should give us plenty of time to figure out what we're dealing with."

"Hopefully no patrols will spot the ship." Waric piped up from the rear of the group.

"Shouldn't." Hermey said, indicating the scrap around them. "The debris will make any residual energy signatures turn into white noise for anything except a REALLY powerful long-range scanner." He explained. "Even then, it would take a very specific kind of bad luck for them to bounce a scanner off us on this giant surface."

The rotation of the planetoid continued on, and the facility suddenly came into view. Banshee crouched behind her scope, placing her eyes into the viewfinders. She zoomed in, finding the main structure to be relatively massive.

"Huh…" She said. "That's odd."

"Talk to me." Davin replied.

"It's not a prison, that much I can tell you…" She informed him, adjusting the focus. "Looks like some kind of factory, or maybe a tech facility…"

"How can you tell?" Waric asked, squinting his eyes uselessly at the far off shapes that made up the base.

"There's a big shipyard keeping orbital pace." She said, then panned the scope over to it. "Looks like a massive Star Destroyer being built…"

"How massive?" Hermey asked, coming over to them.

"Super Class, I'd say."

The group went silent. The Super Star Destroyers had been the largest ships ever designed and built, and had caused a LOT of problems for the New Republic during its early years. The various warlords commanding them had basically all made power plays during the post-endor chaos. All but two of them had been destroyed, one of which had been Palpatine's personal flagship, Eclipse, which had gone missing after the battle of Endor, the other had been captured by Pirates, and to this day served as their capitol in the Wild Space region.

After the Republic's victory, construction of Super Star Destroyers had been outlawed, and thus, the massive warships had faded into obscurity. Now though, Banshee was staring down the very nearly completed hull of one.

"This is bad." She said, shaking her head. "This place doesn't even look like First Order work… It looks too old for that."

She shifted her view to the other structures being worked on in the dry dock of the shipyard, and felt her blood run cold.

"Um… Guys…" She said, focusing in to try to get a better view. "I think those are super weapons."

Davin spun around and crouched beside her. "Where?"

She moved aside, locking the view in place so he could take a look. Davin peered through the lenses.

"Sith spit…" He said severely.

The view at the shipyard revealed what looked like a skeleton of the Death Star, though a quarter of the size, and without any kind of propulsion system in place. It also had no lights on, which meant it was derelict. What WASN'T derelict though, was the massive form of a tube-shaped vessel with full running lights, and what looked like space-walk crews dotting the exterior, actively working on it. Nearby, another long, thin vessel stood at the ready, featuring what looked like a massive gun barrel, attached to propulsion engines, and positively overflowing with turbo lasers dotting the surface.

Davin clenched his jaw, then moved aside to let her take the scope once more. He stood up and began to pace anxiously. "So we got an Imperial-era Admiral we've never seen before, running around the Galaxy with a small fleet of Imp-class Destroyers… Maven thinks there's a secret base out there somewhere making super weapons and lo and behold we find a shipyard with a bunch of VERY suspicious looking superstructures."

"We heard rumors about the secret assembly dock," Hermey said. "that a bunch of guys had been drafted to go work there, and never came back…"

Davin shrugged. "Never had a hard time believing it existed… This just wasn't what we were supposed to find here."

"The Force works in mysterious ways…" Jed said, after having been silent for a long time. Suddenly though, his head whipped around, and his human eye widened in alarm. "Everyone take cover!"

The Nerfherders immediately broke position and moved for the nearest cover they could find, spreading out. Unable to disassemble the scope in time, Banshee simply knocked the thing over and dove near Waric, who'd taken up position behind a large sheet of durasteel.

Just as everyone made it out of sight, a dropship came hovering into view, and was passed by the whizzing, screeching forms of two TIE Fighters a moment later. The ship pivoted and passed by The Inglourious, shining a spotlight down on it as it went.

"Blast it…" Davin said.

He quickly yanked his blaster pistol out, as well as the rifle body attachment for it. He slid the larger weapon body down over the pistol barrel, and locked it in place, then activated the dual power cells and the weapon switched to its assault rifle form.

"Heavy weapons. Now." Davin shouted, knowing the enemy wouldn't possibly be able to hear them over the sound of the ship's engines.

Waric brought his portable beam cannon to bear, activating it and letting it warm-up, Banshee readied her sniper rifle, swapping the clip out for her anti-tank shells, while Jed simply drew his twin blaster pistols, and Hermey clutched his large Repeater Carbine tight.

The dropship hovered over The Inglourious, directly above it, keeping one light on it, while another spotlight scanned the ground around it.

Jed felt something drawing nearer from the opposite direction, and realized with horror what had just happened.

"They're behind us!" He shouted, and spun around, putting his back to the bulkhead he'd taken cover behind and extending both pistols.

Just as he shouted though, blaster fire seared through space toward the group, dotting the ground, and junk all around them, forcing the group to move or be roasted. Jed stood his ground and opened fire in return, picking off four Stormtroopers as soon as they appeared from behind the cover they'd concealed themselves with. Waric stood up and shouted a battle cry, unleashing the sustained green torrent of energy from his beam cannon. He strafed it across the sea of garbage that made up the surface of the planetoid, and sent another two Stormtroopers sailing into the air. Banshee didn't bother turning, she simply fired off an anti-tank round, which struck the dropship in the aft section of its starboard side. The hull erupted in an explosion of fire and debris, knocking the dropship off its stable hovering position. As soon as she'd fired though, she was already moving, scrambling up the side of a large heap of trash, getting to a better vantage point.

Davin leveled his rifle at the approaching squad, not knowing how many there were out there, and took pot-shots at whatever white armored targets he could find. His mind raced as he tried to come up with an escape plan, but he knew they were pinned down. The squad would overpower them easily, the dropship prevented them from escaping in The Inglourious, and they only had a limited supply of ammunition…

Then the situation got a lot worse.

Davin suddenly felt the rifle jerk upward in his hands, and had to hold on tight to keep from losing it. He fired off a few rounds, but didn't know what he was shooting at, so he stopped. Before he could react though, he saw it. The black-clad, helmet-wearing form of a Knight of Ren lunging out of the darkness toward him. He saw the red blade activate behind the approaching figure, and tried to bring the rifle to bear on it, but he couldn't overpower the grip of The Force being used against him. He let go with his left hand, and slapped the medallion hanging around his neck, and as the force bubble came up, the weapon was freed. He swung it around and fired off three shots, but they were easily deflected by the approaching figure. He tried to back-pedal away from the Lightsaber-wielding foe, but the other was too fast, and soon the blade cleaved the barrel off his assault rifle, and knocked the remainder of the weapon from his hands.

Davin hurled himself backward, narrowly avoiding a horizontal slash from the Lightsaber, and yanked his Vibro Knife from its scabbard. He rolled to avoid another vicious slash from the Ren, then snapped up into a crouch, activating the knife and switching to its electro setting. He deflected the next strike from the red Lightsaber, saving his life, but the blow still sent him rolling backwards again. Davin had been ready that time though, and rolled up onto his feet once more, getting to a standing position finally. He clicked the switch on the back of the knife and the blade extended out into a sword-length. He knew he only had a limited time before the electro setting ate up the battery on his knife, so he charged the Knight. He struck three times, once horizontally, and then two powerful overhead swings. All three were blocked, and Davin could already feel his weapon overheating as it connected time and time again with the more powerful weapon of his foe. The Knight extended his hand in a shoving motion toward Davin, but nothing happened, and he saw the Knight hesitate for a moment in confusion, but only for a moment. The Knight of Ren hadn't figured out Davin's trick yet.

Davin quickly back-pedaled as the Knight swung at him again, and barely avoided the searing red blade of energy as it came for his chest. He took advantage of the wide swing his enemy had taken, and slashed diagonally with his knife. There was a discharge of energy and he felt the satisfying shudder in his arm as the searing vibro blade of his knife slashed through the thick fabric of the Knight's great-coat.

He heard a cry of pain from the vocal emitter of his enemy's helmet, but Davin's victory was short lived, as a broken laser cannon frame of some kind came ripping up out of the debris tower to his right, and slammed hard into Davin's shoulder, flinging him through the air back to where the confrontation had first begun. Davin groaned in pain, and realized he'd lost his grip on his weapon.

The Knight stalked toward him, the Lightsaber in his hand jerking in anticipation for the kill, and Davin struggled to get his injured body to respond to commands as he crawled away. He knew he wouldn't be fast enough though.

Suddenly, only a few paces away, the Knight quickly turned and jerked the Lightsaber up in front of him, just as a shell came zooming down from above. The shell struck the blade, and ignited, blowing the Ren off his feet, and sending him sliding across the ground a few yards. Davin looked up and saw Banshee struggling to load the next anti-tank shell. Before she could, the Knight struggled up into a crouch, and yanked his hand upward. The TIE Fighter body that made up a corner of the foundation that Banshee's sniper hill was resting on ripped free. The hill began to collapse in on itself, and Banshee leapt to her feet, struggling against the shifting junk beneath her.

As the hill collapsed, a wave of droids came flying off the hill, knocked loose by the Knight's assault. He side-stepped a flying protocol droid body easily, letting it roll past, before re-ignited his Lightsaber, then made a move to go after Davin once more. Suddenly, the protocol droid body ripped apart, and Jed emerged from within it, wielding his two yellow bladed Lightsabers. The Knight spun around and engaged Jed quickly.

Both experts twisted, lunged and clashed with one-another, sending showers of sparks whenever one clipped a bit of the falling hail of junk debris from the battle raging around them. Jed pushed hard, feeling The Force flowing through him, struggling with the cloudy haze of the Dark Side radiating off his foe. Nevertheless, he forced his opponent back with the sheer speed of his attacks, and utilized his extra Lightsaber to keep the Knight off-balance, unable to turn the tide and go on the offensive. Suddenly though, the Knight of Ren did something unexpected, he lunged TOWARD Jed, stepping inside his swing, and grabbed hold of his right arm. Jed tried to twist away, but the Knight held fast, and slashed at Jed's other hand, cleaving it off his body, the second Lightsaber going with it.

Jed cried out in pain, imagined pain, as his arm was completely mechanical, but the sensors all through his body sent signals to his brain, which interpreted the wound as something like pain.

Either way… it hurt.

Davin saw his ally in trouble and forced himself painfully up to his hands and knees, searching for something to help him with. He spotted his blaster only a few feet away, the barrel cleaved off by the Ren's Lightsaber. He lunged for it.

Jed broke free from the Knight's grip and blocked the next attack just in time before it lopped off his very human head, and the two entered into a saber lock. Jed felt several malfunctions occurring in his system from the battle, and struggled to keep his focus on the fight as his opponent forced him down to his knees. Jed wedged the sparking stump of his hand against the hilt of his saber, keeping it extended, and refusing to yield more space to his foe.

Davin grabbed the blaster rifle, released the latch for the assault rifle portion, and whipped it aside, letting the destroyed rifle portion fly free. Wasting no time, Davin leveled the once-again pistol, and fired off a round at the Knight. The Knight recoiled, crying out in pain again as the shot struck him in the ribs, and his footing faltered. Jed gained some ground in the saber lock, and the Knight saw Davin lining up another, deadlier shot.

With no other option, the Knight thrust his hand down at the ground, sending a massive current of raw dark side energy into the steel and plastic sea they were all standing on. The effect was instantaneous, and sent ALL of them flying into the air, amidst a whirlwind of junk. The blaster fire was cut off by the sudden explosion, and the entire area was covered in rust particles, smoke, and a field of loose debris that was kicked up beyond the reach of the planetoid's gravity.

After a time, the metallic dust began to settle, and visibility began to return. Several Stormtroopers pulled themselves up out of the new piles of debris that had been made by the battle, and scanned the area for any other signs of life. A large burst of steel, wires and other junk brought their attention to the far end of what had once been the flat clearing of a ship bulkhead, where they'd engaged the Nerfherders. They leveled their weapons at the movement, but immediately lowered them when they saw the form of the Knight of Ren emerge, the dome of an astromech flopping about on top of the Knight's helmet. One of the troopers stifled a laugh.

The Knight turned, activated his Lightsaber, and hurled it at the trooper. It impaled the Stormtrooper right through the helmet, and the man fell to the surface, dead. The Knight hurled the astromech dome off him, and yanked his weapon back to his hand with The Force, killing the blade. He clutched the blaster wound on his ribs, and limped over to the remaining troopers, who had now been joined by several other survivors.

"Sir. Are you alright?" One of them asked.

"Where did they go?" The Ren demanded, looking around expectantly.

"No sign sir." The trooper reported. "Given how many we lost in that avalanche, it's unlikely that they made it out."

"Keep searching." The Knight said.

He reached out with the Dark Side, scanning for any signs of life amongst the wreckage surrounding him. He found only one.

"There." He said, jabbing his finger toward it.

The troopers made a quick line to the source of it, and yanked aside various junk bits, only to expose the writhing, injured form of another First Order Stormtrooper. The Knight limped over, seeing it for himself.

"Get him up. Recall the dropship." He ordered, then pointed to The Inglourious. "Tow it in with us."

"Yes sir." The same trooper responded.

As the damaged dropship soared away from the refuse yard, The Inglourious being hauled behind it, all went silent again for a moment on the surface. Soon though, a loud 'bang!' split the air, and a moment later, the hatch of the TIE Fighter body that the Knight had ripped free of Banshee's sniper hill came flying off. Crammed inside, the injured Nerfherders groaned, and struggled to free themselves. Davin de-activated the force bubble projected by his medallion, glad that the group had managed to huddle together close enough for it to conceal them from the Knight's abilities.

"Well…" Davin said, collapsing into a sitting position next to the TIE body. "That coulda gone better…"

CHAPTER X: The Old Guard

Daala watched over the edge of the railing as, far below, the crews rushed about their duties, making preparations for their next attack. She often liked to come watch her men work from afar, not knowing she was monitoring them. She did so from the secrecy of the catwalks above the hangar bay from time-to-time, and was not disappointed by their discipline. She'd trained her men well, and they followed her loyally.

She'd performed almost a dozen quick hit-and-fade missions against the Rebels, and each time she felt as if she wasn't doing enough… The body counts were minimal, the destruction was impressive, but ultimately small-time. Having only a handful of capital ships to work with had its drawbacks...

A drawback she hoped to change after the next engagement, against Kuat Drive Yards itself. She'd sent one of her ships, The Attestor, to drop out of Hyperspace near Chandrilla, making the Rebels think that to be her next target, but in reality, the Attestor would immediately jump back to Lightspeed as soon as the fleet showed up, giving the Stormbreaker and the Shattered Axe an opening to attack Kuat. Then, when the battle was underway, the Attestor would arrive, and tow away one of the capital ships in dry dock there. If all went according to plan, they would leave with a new ship under her command.

She heard approaching footsteps, and knew it was Kratas before he even spoke.

"Yes Commander?" She asked as he came to a halt near her.

"Admiral…" He said, seeming a bit hesitant. "We've received a communication transmission."

Daala did not look at him, she simply continued to watch her men. "I thought I gave instructions to maintain communications silence during this stage?"

"You did, Admiral." Kratas confirmed. "However, this transmission came in through the dark channel."

Daala looked at him now. "You're positive?" She asked. "It isn't a glitch, or some pirates back-door chatting on the old Imperial networks?"

The other shook his head. "No Ma'am." He said emphatically. "I checked the coding myself, and it is legitimate old Imperial black ops signal."

"What did it say?" She demanded urgently.

"It identified you by name, and gave a high command identification code." Kratas informed her, handing over a datapad with the information and message.

"Who would possibly know to send me a personal message?" She asked, mostly talking to herself. "It did not come from The First Order…"

"No ma'am." Kratas said in agreement.

"Come with me, Commander." She said, stalking off toward her quarters.

A few minutes later, Daala and Kratas entered her personal quarters, crossing to her office, and she ordered him to lock the door behind them. He did as he was told, and she sat down behind her desk, accessing her personal terminal, porting the transmission connection to it. She surveyed the coded transmission once more to be sure, then returned the signal, with her own identification code attached, then leaned back in her chair and waited.

After a few moments, which seemed like much longer, a garbled, slightly fuzzy holo image came up on the screen, featuring a blonde woman in an Imperial uniform. The rank badge on her chest indicated that she was a Commodore.

"Admiral Natasi Daala, this is Commodore Maven Nyrakis of the Imperial Remnant Council." She said, all business.

"Acknowledged." Daala said, frowning. "Do we know each other, Commodore? I'm not familiar with your name."

"We are not." Maven said. "But I'm hoping we can change that very soon, or else all will be lost."

"Before we get into that…" Daala said, leaning forward to look into the holo. "How did you get access to this channel? It is intended to be reserved ONLY for special projects members or royalty."

"I'm well aware." Maven said. "I am Imperial High Command, and in the past, I had a direct line to Imperial Royalty due to my… Special circumstances."

As Maven didn't elaborate, Daala didn't bother wasting time asking her to. "Alright Commodore, what can I do for you?"

"You can cease your hostilities with the New Republic, for starters." Maven said.

Daala sneered. "Ah, so you're a traitor then…"

"Far from it." Maven denied. "I am one who TRULY represents the interests of the Empire… Not the pretenders that, I'm guessing, have driven you out of your secret station, and sent you on this unnecessary and detrimental mission."

Daala was about to dismiss her again, but she hesitated, raising an eyebrow. "And what pretenders might you be referring to?"

"The First Order, of course." Maven said. "They are the traitors. A group of fanatical deserters that abandoned their posts and commands to go off and play off some contingency. The Galaxy is at peace, and the Imperial Remnant has collectively decided to accept our place in it."

Daala's jaw tightened. She did not like what she was hearing sofar. "Our place?" She spat. "Our place is that of the controlling party of the Galaxy, not pandering to some overblown Rebellion."

"We pander to no Rebellion." Maven assured her. "Our people have seats of power in the current Government, and their ways have not stamped out ours. The fact is, we entered into a war, and the results of war inevitably result in a losing side… We lost."

Daala was about to argue further, to protest, to call her a liar, but something in Maven's eyes told her that there was no deception there.

"Furthermore…" Maven said. "These pretenders to the throne have likely compromised your mental state with their force users… I assume there was one there when the Order's envoys met with you? All dressed in black, with helmets, perhaps?"

Daala nodded. "They were indeed…"

She thought back to that meeting… To the fact that she hadn't liked Kerec, hadn't trusted him, and had wondered initially if Pallaeon was being manipulated or even forced to bring them to her… Suddenly the realization hit her like a bucket of cold water to her face. They HAD manipulated her. They'd used her vicious need to escape the Maw Installation, and her fierce loyalty to Tarkin to get rid of her, and take over the facility themselves… How had she been so blind?

"I understand how you are feeling now." Maven assured her. "It is not your fault, Admiral. You've done your duty well, and it is time for you to continue to do that duty. To the true Empire, not this First Order and its children commanders."

Daala paused, thinking carefully for a time. "One moment." She said, then muted the transmission.

She looked over at Kratas, who was still looking at the screen, but soon met her gaze. She waited, and motioned to him.

"With respect, Ma'am…" He said. "You did say that Kerec was not trustworthy…"

"That I did…" She said, then nodded, and re-activated the comm on the holo link. "Very well, Commodore…" She said. "Where shall we rendezvous?"

The Knight of Ren cringed, his pained noises filtering through his helmet, which he still refused to remove, even as the medical droid tended to him. He stared off into space through the three horizontal slits in his visor, pondering if he'd missed anything, or if the Nerfherders were truly dead…

The door to the medical bay opened and Kerec stormed in, looking furious. "I told you to inform me on the situation as soon as you had results, Ren." He snapped.

The Knight glanced over at him and, though Kerec couldn't see it, smirked beneath his mask. "I made no such assurances… I simply said that I was taking a squad of troops to the refuse yard."

"Careful, Ren…" Kerec said. "You're coming close to disrespecting an officer."

The Knight tilted his head. "And what would happen in that instance?" He asked.

Kerec was silent, he knew full well that the Knights of Ren, while cooperating with First Order command, were not beholden to the chain of command. He'd assumed that he could maintain control of them through politeness and manipulation, but he could now see that he would have to take more drastic measures to ensure his dominance over the operation. For now though…

"What happened?" Kerec said simply, struggling to normalize his tone.

"The Nerfherders." The Knight said.

Kerec's eyes widened. "They are here?" He said, a touch of alarm in his tone. "How?"

"I don't know." The Ren said, cringing again as the droid cauterized the wound in his ribs, and began applying Bacta to it. "In any event, I dealt with the situation."

"Are they all dead?" Kerec asked, suspiciously.

"I believe so." The Knight responded, nodding.

Kerec scoffed, crossing the room and clasping his hands behind his back. "Forgive me if I am uncomfortable with leaving the potential exposure of this site to the whims of your beliefs and unsubstantiated possibilities."

"No need." The Knight said.

Suddenly, the medical bay door opened once again, and through the doorway, a tall, black-clad figure in a helmet entered. He looked very similar, and yet at the same time, very different from the Knight of Ren sitting on the medical bed.

"When did you summon another of your clan, Ren?" Kerec asked, eyeing the newcomer with disdain.

"As soon as I sensed the Nerfherders at the refuse yard." The first Knight said, standing up and shooing away the droid. "We will return to the yard as soon as a special operations team is assembled, and ensure that they are, in fact, dead."

Kerec swallowed, and couldn't help but feel a bit sick to his stomach as he stood between the two frightening, powerful figures. The second Knight hadn't even spoken yet, and already he knew he was just as bad as the first…

"Very well…" Kerec said. "I um… I await your report then." He managed.

With that, Kerec made his way to the door, stopping as the second Knight of Ren did not move out of his way. The Knight looked down at him through the visor of his own abominable helmet, littered with scars and dents from the various battles he had been in. Kerec hesitated, then ultimately side-stepped the Knight, and went out the door behind him. The show of power was effective, as loathed as Kerec was to admit it… He'd lost the edge now.

The First Knight turned to his fellow Ren, and nodded in acknowledgement. "Brother."

The Second Knight did the same. "Brother. I trust you are well."

"I am, for the most part, still intact." He said, stretching to test the bio stitching the droid had done. They held fine. "Have you spoken with Master Kylo?"

The Second Knight nodded. "I have. He did not feel that The Nerfherders warrant the entire clan to be sent out. He believes that you and I will be sufficient if they are still alive."

The First Knight thought a moment, and nodded. "I believe so as well…"

"You are angry, brother." Second Knight said, tilting his head. "Your wounds were an embarrassment?"

"Yes…" First Knight admitted. "Although, there is something else…" He said, donning his great-coat once more. "One of the Nerfherders is familiar to us."

"Oh?" Second Knight said. "Who might that be?"

"Subject 77." The First said. "I am sure of it."

"Interesting…" The Second said. "Very interesting."

CHAPTER XI: The Gathering Storm

"Maven…" The voice called from the shadows. "Maven…"

The voice echoed all around her, and all around her was darkness. It was all-encompassing, and nothing could be seen. No sound greeted her either, except for the voice. She looked down at her hands, and though she could see them, she could also NOT see them… as if the idea of them was there, but the tangible body parts were not.

"Maven." The voice said again.

It was familiar to her, and yet somehow it was different from how it usually sounded. Though, she could not place the origin of the voice, or its owner, so how it was SUPPOSED to sound was also a mystery to her at this time.

"Who's there?" She called back. Her words were flat, and as with her hands, the idea of them was there, yet they were not.

"Maven. Hear me." The voice said.

Suddenly, Maven's eyes snapped open, and she sat bold upright in her sleeping chambers. Cold sweat was gripping her forehead and chest. She was breathing hard, and swung her feet off the side of the cot, onto the cold floor of her quarters. Her hair was a mess, and her skin felt warm in spite of the sleeveless tunic she slept in. She closed her eyes, remembering the dream, and there, in the darkness, she saw a spot of light… Framed around the shape of an individual…

Her comm link beeped, snapping her out of it. She punched the response button.

"Yes?" She inquired, irritated.

"Commodor, we've reached the rendezvous with Admiral Daala." Dahl's voice informed her.

"I'll be right up." She said, then switched off the comm.

She stood up, crossing to the mirror and the refresher sink against the wall, activating the water to splash in her face. The cool liquid was refreshing against her hot skin, and allowed the brisk air of her quarters to sink into her body, forcing her to wake up more fully.

The voice still haunted her, even now, and she wondered what she'd been dreaming about… Unfortunately she had no time to ponder this, as she didn't want to keep Daala waiting. She quickly disrobed, and began to don her dress uniform, including her cape. She was about to head out the door of her quarters, but stopped, and her gaze drifted over to the side of the room, where an ornate chest sat.

"Perhaps now is the time…" She said, heading over to it and crouching down beside the chest.

She unlocked it with her fingerprint, and lifted the lid up, revealing several items of personal significance to her, and there, among the trinkets and heirlooms from her past, sat a silver cylinder, with black trim. She slowly reached into the crate and drew it out, letting the lid close and lock itself automatically. She stood, raising the item to eye level, and turning it over in her hands.

Maven shut her eyes, pressing the object to her chest, and letting her mind reach out, connecting with it. She felt the crystal inside… Still alive, still vibrant, still containing a sliver of her mentor's essence within.

"The true Empire shall not bow to them…" She whispered. "This much I swear."

She got no real response, but somewhere, deep down, she felt the faintest flicker of an energy surge, and a brief warm feeling on her back, as if there was a hand there. She turned, but of course there was no one else present in her quarters. Maven nodded, and stood up straight, taking a deep breath.

"Whether I am alive or dead by the end of this day… The true Empire shall not bow to The First Order." She repeated.

"Anything yet?" Davin asked, sitting cross-legged on the ground near Jed.

Between them, a fire burned, having been ignited using some insulation stuffing from the TIE Fighter's pilot seat. The fumes were most likely noxious, but their breathers filtered that anyway, and they needed the heat. Not to mention, Davin's special concoction of alchemical powders needed fire to aid in Jed's meditation.

Jed opened his eye, and his mechanical eye illuminated to a yellow glow once more. He shook his head.

"Nothing yet." He replied. "I don't know if I can reach that far."

"It's The Force…" Davin said, scoffing. "It's everywhere. How can it have a range?"

Jed frowned. "You know as well as I do that The Force has no range…" He said. "I, however, am just a mortal man… I may just not have the strength to do it."

Davin sighed, and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Okay, so let's hope plan B is going better then…" He said, turning to face Waric a few yards away. "How's that transmitter?"

He looked over, away from the mangled, gutted form of the transmitter between them. Waric snorted.

"That depends." He said. "Do you want a useless box of burned-out parts that USED to be a transmitter, or do you want a transmitter? Because if it's the latter, you'll be SORELY disappointed." He finished, shaking his head.

He angrily shoved the box over, and the rusted-out parts fell freely from its chassis.

"I found a mag-pulse generator in that heap over there…" Waric said, waving his hand in the general direction he was talking about. "So if you wanna fry all the active components around, we can do THAT."

"Great…" Davin said, rolling his eyes. "Fat load of good that does us…" He began to pace. "Okay, so… No ship, no transmitter, no luck using The Force…" He shrugged. "Sounds like we're pretty well fragged."

"Keep hope alive, Creel." Banshee said from atop the junk pile, clutching her rifle in her right hand.

Davin glanced up at her, sighing. "Any movement from the facility?" He asked.

"Well we passed out of visual range about ten minutes ago, but I still haven't seen any ships headed our way, so it's probably a safe bet that they think we're dead."

"Or they're just gearing up for another attack." Waric offered. "Or they just don't care. They know we'll freeze to death out here eventually.

"Always a ray of sunshine, you are…" Davin said.

Pallaeon stared out the viewport in his chambers. His eyes were bleary and bloodshot. He hadn't slept for days… Not since The First Order had arrived. What was wrong with him? He could barely focus on anything while awake, and when he tried to sleep, his mind raced with an over-abundance of thoughts too numerous to make sense out of… Was he going mad?

Kerec loaded the blaster pistol, and gave it a once-over to ensure it was clean and properly functional. He never usually carried a sidearm with him, but with two Knights of Ren onboard, and neither one showing him an ounce of respect, he didn't dare go anywhere unprotected. He doubted he would be faster than them, but perhaps his rank would offer SOME level of protection if it came down to it… Either way, he refused to be unarmed.

The two Ren watched as the riot squad assembled before them, shields, blasters, and batons acquired, and properly at the ready. The new dropships were prepped and almost ready to depart, and though they felt no specific presences, there was a definite tremor in The Force… Something was happening.

Two Stormtroopers entered the medical bay, a hover-gurney stretched between them, and approached an empty cot in the vast, open area portion of the area where the regular troops were brought for medical attention. On the gurney was their comrade, injured during the explosive conclusion to the refuse yard battle with the Nerfherders, he writhed and groaned in pain, his voice still coming out in a muffled electronic tone from behind his mask. It was policy within the First Order to maintain a hive mentality, individuality was not embraced or encouraged, which was why all except the very first series of Stormtroopers had been stripped of their names and given only numbers instead. Additionally, the troopers' helmets remained on as often as possible. In the case of medical attention, they would be removed of course, but only around the medical droids and other patients. Seeing one outside their helmet was far from forbidden, but while on active duty, it was heavily frowned upon, and rigorously enforced. The two healthy troopers raised the hover-gurney up, brought it over the med cot, and lowered it down, latching it in place on the empty surface. As they left, they summoned a medical droid unit, who wheeled itself over, and immediately began detaching the trooper's armor.

The trooper on the table looked around, seeing that the few other patients in the room were all sedated, or suspended in Bacta suits.

"Please describe your pain-afflicted areas." The droid said.

"My brain mostly." The trooper said, sarcastically.

Suddenly, the trooper sat up, grabbed hold of the medical droid, and ripped its vocal emitter off its face. The droid recoiled, trying to wheel away, but the trooper held fast, and twisted its head until he felt the connector snap. The droid's body twitched and spasmed, but its body mostly shut down from the disconnection from the processor, and a quick flip of the droid's internal shutdown switch did the rest.

The trooper pulled his helmet off, revealing the face of Hermey Silitz, who quickly looked around to make sure nobody had heard the brief commotion.

Nothing stirred.

Hermey quickly dragged the droid into the medical bay's droid maintenance pod, and carefully reset its memory bank to one hour prior to his arrival. He then plugged it into its recharge port, and set it to automatic startup in thirty minutes. Very quickly, he switched the chart that had been automatically generated for him, or rather, for the trooper whose armor he'd stolen on the refuse yard, and swapped it with that of a soldier suspended in a Bacta suit, and used the droid's access chip to discharge the Bacta soldier. From there, it was a simple matter of swapping into the Bacta soldier's armor, and leaving the medical bay under a clean I.D.

All that done, Hermey had no idea what to do next, so he hoped that Davin and the others would be along soon…

Daala stood at the ready as the transport shuttle docked in the bay of The Gorgon. She watched it settle onto its twin landing legs, and then a moment later, the decontamination gases hissed, and de-pressurized the interior. The ramp descended, and a short blonde woman she recognized as Maven Nyrakis descended, followed by a gruff soldier-type on her right, as well as a tall, muscular woman in heavy, modified Stormtrooper armor on her left, minus the helmet, which exposed a strong yet striking face with piercing green eyes. As Maven hit the bottom of the ramp, the second shuttle she'd brought landed as well, and from within that, a squad of similar-looking women in armor departed. They all carried force pikes and heavy blaster pistols, as well as what looked like energy shields hooked to their backs.

"Admiral Daala." Maven said as she approached, bowing her head slightly.

"Commodore Nyrakis." Daala said, returning the gesture. "We meet at last."

"Indeed. Let us hope that this meeting will do some good this day." Maven said, following Daala to the bridge turbolift.

"I will settle for nothing less than victory, or death." Daala said firmly, not a hint of irony in her tone.

Maven smirked. "I believe we will get along quite well, Admiral."

The two stepped into the turbolift. Maven's bodyguard, and Kratas also boarded, while the rest of Maven's squad headed to the barracks to prepare for what was to come.

"I understand you were a protégé of Moff Tarkin." Maven said, trying to break the tension.

"I was indeed. He greatly influenced my career." Daala confirmed.

"I believe I understand how that is." Maven said. "I too had a… mentor as I was coming up."

"Oh?" Daala asked. "Someone I know?"

Maven's hand drifted to the object secured to her belt. "Perhaps."

"Maven."

The voice echoed in her mind once more, snapping her back to the dream she'd had. She froze, the hair standing up on the back of her neck.

"Jed…" She whispered.

"What?" Daala asked, glancing over at her.

"Commodore?" Dahl asked, leaning forward. "Are you alright?"

Maven cleared her throat. "I'm fine…" She said.

The turbolift doors opened up, revealing the bridge of the Gorgon, and the four exited, heading into the main command area. The troops all stood at attention, then returned to their stations as they received an at-ease salute back.

Maven didn't notice any of it though, she stared off out the viewports at the front of the command deck, and her eyes drifted to the overwhelming sight of the Maw Cluster ahead. They'd arrived less than an hour ago, and since she'd been there, that voice had been calling to her.

Could it be possible?

Maven shut her eyes, and relaxed her mind, reaching out with The Force, and sweeping it across the deep expanse before her.

"Jed…" She whispered once more.

Then it hit her. There, at a specific spot within the cluster, she could feel him.

"I found her." Jed said. "She's here!"

Davin turned to face him. "Who? Maven?"

Jed nodded. "I don't know how… Maybe she heard me before, but she's definitely close by. She's in this system, I know that much."

"Well, maybe our luck is turning around…" Davin said, smirking.

Jed closed his eye and his cybernetic eye faded and darkened. He inhaled deeply, then reached out once more.

"Maven…" He said quietly. "We are trapped."

"We are trapped." Jed's voice said. It was not the robotic voice she'd heard before though, which was why she hadn't recognized it initially. It was completely human-sounding, but definitely Jed.

"Where are you?" She asked.

She received no verbal answer, but the spot within the Maw suddenly became clearer to her, and as the Star Destroyers headed in, she knew they were on the right track.

"Admiral." She said, still looking out the viewport.

"Yes Commodore?" Daala said, turning from her monitoring station to face her.

"I wonder if I might be able to make a stop before we head to the Maw Installation."

CHAPTER XII: Battle of the Two Empires

Kerec rushed down the corridor, his hand resting on the sidearm in the holster fixed to his belt. What in blazes was she doing back? She was given orders to go attack the New Republic, and leave them in peace… If she started making trouble now, he would be forced to call for assistance from The Order, and that certainly wouldn't look good for him… He could already imagine the smug look on Hux's face as his forces swooped in to clean up his mess.

No. He would not call for help.

Kerec entered the bridge, and on the holo platform he saw an image of Admiral Daala already waiting for him.

"Admiral." He said, adjusting his uniform. "This is an unexpected pleasure… We had thought your campaign would take longer." His voice did not reflect the pleasant nature of his words.

"I'm sure." Daala replied, narrowing her eyes at him. "Nevertheless, I've come back to check in on the transitional process of my facility, and ensure that everything is well in hand. Additionally, I'll need more supplies for the continued campaign."

"I see…" Kerec said suspiciously. "Admiral, we have quite a bit of traffic coming and going from the station just now. The Super Star Destroyer is scheduled to have its main engine test today, so I wonder if I might have you station your Destroyer out beyond the shipyard perimeter, and come in on a single shuttle?"

"I'm afraid I cannot comply." Daala said. "We are already landing in the docking bay."

Kerec's head snapped around to the security holo image, and he did indeed see three full-size troop transports landing in the bay, and upon switching to the external camera, he saw The Gorgon holding position just off the starboard side of the Installation. He cursed under his breath, and turned back to face the hologram of Daala. "I see you've brought a compliment of troops… Is that necessary?"

"Of course." Daala said. "As I mentioned, I'll be needing supplies, and my men know their way around better, so the process will go quicker if they handle it."

Abruptly, the hologram cut off, and Kerec swore louder this time, looking for something to throw in anger, but found nothing nearby. He took a breath, composing himself, and turned to the deck officer. "Have a squad meet me in the docking bay. Immediately."

The First and Second Knight looked around, surveying the remains of what looked like a transmitter that someone had attempted to repair… As well as a burned-out bonfire, and other bits of debris that suggested the Nerfherders had indeed survived the battle. Where had they gone, though? They had no ship, they had no supplies, and they would have frozen to death by now without any form of shelter…

"Sir, I'm picking up something." One of the troopers said.

The First Knight turned to face him. "What is it?"

"A power source." The trooper said, examining the readings on the scanner he was utilizing. "Looks like it could be a functional patch-together transmitter."

The First Knight's hand squeezed tightly into a fist. That could mean that, not only were the Nerfherders still alive, and loose in the system, but they could have brought MORE resistance fighters in, to back them up…

"Find it. Now." He commanded. "I want to know what they transmitted, and to whom."

The troopers used the scanners to narrow the field, and it brought them to a covered-up heap of trash on the edge of the bulkhead clearing, where all the day's events had taken place. They moved aside some pieces, and found the box in question, but more confusingly, they also discovered the dead body of a Stormtrooper… Though his armor was missing.

The Second Knight tilted his head to one side. "Do you think they donned armor to attempt infiltration?"

"Perhaps." The First Knight said. "That still does not answer the question of how they got off the yard…"

The troopers lifted their dead comrade to examine his body, but as they did, a wire tied around his wrist was pulled taught, and pulled a pin out of something.

"Get back!" The Knights shouted as a tremor went through The Force.

The explosion was small, probably a low-powered thermal detonator, but it was powerful enough to kill the two troopers nearest to it, and send the others tumbling off their feet. The Knights had had enough time to leap back, clearing the blast, but then another, different kind of blast emitted from within the small hole that they'd discovered. The so-called transmitter beeped severely, and then a harsh blue light burst forth from inside, followed by a wave of static that made everyone's hair stand on end, even through their protective gear.

At first, nobody knew what had just happened, but then a loud 'CRASH!' from behind them told the story plainly. The Knights and troopers who were still on their feet spun around to see their ship, which had been hovering low to the ground, had slammed down onto the bulkhead they were all standing on. The running lights, system indicators and engines had all gone dark… The ship itself was dead.

The Second Knight reached out with The Force, and ripped the covering off the 'transmitter' they'd found, revealing a jury-rigged mag-pulse generator had been shoved into its casing.

"A trap within a trap…" The Second Knight said. "The thermal detonator damaged the mag-pulse generator, and ruptured its core…"

"Which fried the internal components of our ship…" The other Knight finished. "Including the transmitter inside, as well as our personal comms…"

"We can manually signal the TIE Fighters when they make their next pass." The squad leader offered. "Shouldn't take more than twenty minutes."

"It may already be too late by then…" The First Knight said, rage boiling his tone, even through the electronic disruption of his mask.

Daala, Maven, Dahl, Kratas, and several squads of Imperial Stormtroopers entered the main hangar reception corridor, marching in as if they owned the place. Among the troops they'd brought, were Maven's bodyguard squad, who towered over even the taller of the men among the group standard Imperial Stormtroopers, as well as several older model Imperial Security Droids. Maven herself, as well as Dahl, were wearing helmets to mask their identities, as she was sure that Kerec would immediately recognize her, and not appreciate her presence. She still wore her uniform though, refusing to hide THAT much…

As they approached the internal doors though, they opened, revealing Kerec and a host of First Order Stormtroopers, marching in formation to greet their guests. Maven smirked at the display, knowing full well it was intended to be intimidating, but it only told her more about him than he would have ever revealed willingly. Any officer worth his salt would have brought ONLY a personal bodyguard squad, and stationed the rest of his party close-by, out of sight.

He was scared. Rightfully so.

Maven turned as their group came to a halt, waiting for their host group to reach them. She faced a small group of Imperial personnel carrying supply crates, and nodded toward them.

"You may proceed with your assignments." She said.

Daala turned as well, motioning to another door that led off the corridor. "That one there will take you to the proper turbolift bay." She said. "From there, you'll most likely to be able to find the way."

One of the troopers nodded beneath his helmet. "Yes ma'am."

The small group detached from the main group, and headed off through the door in question. Kerec's eyes tracked them, and Maven could sense the fury building within. He definitely did not want Imperial troops strutting about the facility unwatched.

"Admiral…" Kerec said, locking his eyes on Daala. "I would be happy to send a few men along with yours to assist in the supply collection…"

"No need, General." Daala said, her face stone, with the slightest hint of amusement. "They know the way."

Kerec's jaw tightened, and he glanced at the towering female bodyguards, as well as Maven and Dahl's helmeted figures. "I see you'd added a bit of flare to your units…"

"That I have." Daala said, cryptically.

As soon as the group made it to the turbolift bay, the Nerfherders immediately went to work. Jed, still in his Security Droid chassis, locked the door, and went down the row, powering down the turbolifts using the codes uploaded to him by Daala. Banshee began removing the armor she'd been wearing, and changing into a tech officer's uniform, while Waric made the switch to his mechanical department uniform.

Jed yanked off the hollow security droid head and blinked. "It pinches." He said, shooting a glare at Davin.

"Deal with it." Davin said, opening the supply crates in front of him. "We all have to make sacrifices…"

"Doesn't seem like you do…" Jed said, finishing his task. "You're still wearing Stormtrooper armor…"

"Trust me, it's a sacrifice…" Davin assured him.

The plan was relatively simplistic, and had been formed somewhat between Daala and Maven before the Nerfherders had even arrived, they'd simply added their own elements to it… The initial plan was to cripple the power supply to the super weapon shipyard, leaving it essentially dead in the vacuum, preventing more work from being done. The Nerfherders, however, decided that blowing the reactor, and destroying the shipyard itself, which would also destroy the weapons, was the best option.

The tense moment passing between Daala and Kerec was interrupted as the doors to the hangar behind her group opened, revealing the two Knights of Ren, and their riot trooper squad. Before Maven even turned to look, she felt the familiar cold shiver that ran up her spine whenever a Dark Side wielder was present. This would make things a bit more complicated.

"Ah," Kerec said, his voice not at all happy. "What have you to report, Ren?"

The Knights stalked along the corridor, eyeing Daala and her cohorts as they passed. Maven felt their creeping, scanning tendrils of the Dark Side beginning to weave their way through the squad… Not good.

"Why is she here?" The First Knight said, indicating Daala, not even bothering to pretend. "We have urgent matters to deal with, and this is not the time-"

"If you value your life, Knight…" Daala said severely. "I would avoid speaking of me as though I weren't here."

The Knight turned, and even through his helmet, she knew he was glaring at her.

"-They sent another group off to acquire supplies…" Kerec said, sneering. "For her campaign…" He finished, practically spitting the word.

Maven felt the tremor through The Force, and her head turned to meet the helmeted gaze of the Second Knight.

He'd tried to read her thoughts. She had instinctively blocked him.

"You!" The Knight shouted, pointing at her. "Force User!"

The First Knight's head snapped around to look at her as well. The jig was up.

"That I am…" She said, then removed her helmet, brazenly tossing it aside and lifting her chin proudly. "I am Maven Nyrakis, Commodore and member of the Imperial Council…"

Kerec's eyes blazed with fury, and his hand twitched where it hung next to his blaster. Daala's fingers touched her own, giving him a death glare of warning. All around, gloved hands of Stormtroopers of both types tightened around their weapons.

"Surrender now." The First Knight said. "Or die."

Maven and Daala exchanged a look, and smirked at one-another. "We did discuss it before-hand…" Maven said.

Daala nodded. "We did indeed." She said.

"Kill the traitors." They both said simultaneously.

The room exploded with motion, and then immediately the air filled with the sounds of blaster fire, the smells of scorched carbon and burning ozone, and the red flashes of hot blaster fire lit up the space.

Both sides suffered immediate losses, some Stormtroopers didn't even get a shot off as the small space turned into a killing field. Almost as quickly though, the two sides moved apart, getting distance between them and moving for whatever cover happened to be nearby. Hallway arches, doorways, supply crates, etc. Anything that could potentially withstand a laser blast was utilized.

The Nerfherders froze as the alarms began to blare, and the entire station seemed to tremble with movement.

"Well, so much for stealth…" Davin said. "Into the lift, now!"

The Nerfherders all moved to the furthest lift on the right, and Jed unlocked it, allowing them to enter. He checked to make sure his sabers were both affixed to his forearms, then put the helmet head of the Security Droid back on.

The lift started up and everyone took long, slow breaths in the elevator. They knew they were facing unlikely odds up on the shipyard, and they all knew without saying that it was unlikely that all of them would be walking away… Maybe none of them.

The lift entered the long, stretching length of turbolift that connected the main facility with the shipyards, and all sound outside the elevator was gone. In that silence, they all seemed to find some measure of peace for a moment. A hush fell within them as well. Nobody fidgeted, nobody breathed loudly.

They simply WERE.

"Thank you all for doing this." Davin said suddenly. "I know we're all here for our own reasons, but you all trusted me enough to follow me this far."

Banshee placed a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to look behind him at her. She gave a soft smile.

"Davin…" She said, taking a breath. "We all just knew you'd make a good human shield. Look how tall you are."

The elevator erupted into laughter.

The Knights of Ren leapt out of the fray, and the First Knight turned to the Second. "Kill the heretic. I will deal with the others…" He said.

The Second Knight nodded, and the First rushed through the fray of blaster fire, igniting his Lightsaber and deflecting a few stray bolts as they came too close. The Second Knight stepped out, igniting his as well, illuminating his corner of the hall with the crimson glow of his saber. 

"Do not fire upon the Knight!" Daala shouted over the cacophony of the battle.

She knew that any shots fired in his direction would inevitably be bounced back at them. She also knew that the Knight would be dealt with… Maven rolled her shoulders, and twisted her head around, cracking her neck. She then stepped out, unclipping her cape and letting it fall to the floor as she drew the Lightsaber that had been clipped to her belt. Not her own blue-bladed saber, this was the older one, which had been stored in the trunk in her room. She felt it through The Force as well as the physical weight of it in her hand. She knew the Knight could feel it too.

"Is that…?" The Knight said, his voice trembling a bit behind his electronic voice amplifier.

"It is." She said, smirking.

The saber came to life with a 'snap-hiss!' of energy, and the crimson blade lashed out into existence, adding its own, brighter glow to the glow of the Knight's saber. Darth Vader's Lightsaber was heavy, and powerful, able to cut through nearly anything. Even Mandalorian Iron would not last against prolonged strikes from it… The saber was also long, made to be wielded by someone nearing 7 feet tall, whereas Maven was only just above 5 foot. As a result, she'd learned to fight with it a certain way, which was unorthodox… The length and heft of the saber made it impossible to wield it like normal, so she wielded it as if it was a hammer, or axe, using the weight to give slower, more powerful strikes.

Maven leaned forward and began to rush the Knight, the saber scraping along the corridor floor behind her, leaving a glowing orange trail of melted steel behind it as she ran. The Knight hesitated, and then hefted his own saber up into a defensive position, then rushed her as well. Maven let out a battle cry and just before they reached one-another, she stopped short, twisting to her right as the Knight lunged, slashing downward at her with his weapon. She pivoted around the saber, letting it sink partially into the floor, but not putting enough force behind it to cut too deep. She turned away from the Knight and, gripping the saber handle with both hands, yanked it free of the floor, and used the momentum to spin herself around 360 degrees, before the saber slammed against the weapon of her foe.

The lift came to a halt on the entry level of the weapons shipyard, and opened to reveal a row of very large, wide viewports, looking out across the vast expanse of open space between the facility and the edge of the Maw. They could see the shipyard was a half-circle shape, the portside arm of which they were currently standing in. The starboard most side was a docking port, currently hooked to the bay of the Super Star Destroyer they'd seen earlier, and in the center, between the two arms, hooked to smaller, jutting arms that brought them power and stability, sat the Galaxy Gun and the Darksaber, both super weapons that were on the verge of being activated, as Daala had told them.

The Nerfherders immediately rushed forward, following the curve of the facility toward the center, where they'd been told there would be another set of turbolifts which they could take down to the sub-level of the shipyard, and access the power core. As they rounded the long, curved corridor though, they realized that wasn't going to happen.

Two squads of Stormtroopers were assembled outside the turbolifts they needed to access.

"Blast it!" Davin swore. "Open fire!"

The Nerfherders didn't give the troopers a chance to react, they simply let loose with a barrage of blaster bolts that took down several of the Stormtroopers before they could even turn to look. The others though, began returning fire, and falling back into the cover of the alcove framing the turbolifts.

"They must have figured out where we were headed!" Banshee shouted, taking a knee and blasting the bucket off the shoulders of a trooper as he leaned around the corner to fire.

She immediately rose up again and made a side-stepping line, crouching behind various support struts and railings to keep covered. The others did the same, Jed ditching his uncomfortable helmet, as it would do him no good any longer. He flipped his twin blasters on his fingers and expertly fired off controlled shots, taking down a trooper every time he fired. One of the troopers hit by the initial barrage began to get to his feet, so Davin rushed up on him, whipped out his Vibro knife, and shoved the blade into the slit between the helmet and shoulders of the trooper's armor. The man in his arms grunted in pain briefly, then Davin yanked the weapon free and tossed him aside.

"We gotta push through them!" He said. "Keep up the attack, Waric, lay down some strafing fire!"

Waric did as he was told, strafing the green beam cannon across the hallway, frying a perfect line across the alcove, which took out two more troopers, and forced the others to dive for cover wherever they could find it. The Nerfherders were now directly in front of the opening, and the odds were still not in their favor; The majority of the squads guarding the lifts were still standing, and as the Nerfherders continued to take their pot-shots, the expertly trained troopers were re-organizing. They got their riot shields at the ready, and formed a phalanx, stepping out of cover and blocking blaster bolts from the Nerfherders as their comrades fired over the tops of the shields, forcing the Nerfherders to halt fire and take cover.

"This isn't gonna work…" Waric said, slamming himself down behind a walkway railing next to Davin. "It's only a matter of time before they push out of that alcove and get us pinned into the corner back here…"

Davin nodded. "Yeah, but we don't have any other choice…"

Jed, who was hiding behind a support beam, suddenly snapped is head to look at Davin and Waric. "We need to get out of here. Now!" He shouted.

Davin was confused a moment, then saw his gaze was actually not fixed on them, but behind them. He felt a knot in his stomach, and turned to look back down the corridor the way they'd come. The crimson red glow of a Lightsaber was visible first, then the black, shadowy figure of the Knight of Ren they'd encountered at the refuse yard appeared. He clutched the saber tightly in his right hand and rushed down the hallway toward them.

XIII: Desperation Tactics

"Move!" Davin commanded. "Go now! Go go go!"

He and Waric got up and sprinted further along the arm of the shipyard as Banshee and Jed, who were further along than they were, opened fire on the Knight. He slowed his pace, deflecting the laser blasts expertly, but it bought the group time. Banshee stopped firing as Davin and Waric opened fire with Jed. She sprinted up the hallway, taking up a position at the curve just before losing sight of them.

"Move!" She shouted, taking a knee, partially covering herself with the hallway wall.

The Nerfherders broke off their attack and sprinted toward her, the Knight following doggedly, flanked by the Stormtroopers. As soon as the rest of the group passed her, Banshee fired off the anti-tank shell she'd loaded, and it lanced out toward the Knight and the Stormtroopers. Unfortunately, it didn't reach there…

The Knight arched his arm back, and one of the Stormtroopers suddenly shouted in surprise as he was lifted off the floor. He hurled his arm forward in a throwing motion, and the Stormtrooper was launched through the air, directly into the path of the incoming shell. The shell detonated, killing the flying trooper in spectacular fashion, but it had exploded too far from the rest of the group to do any damage to them… All she'd done was slow them up.

"Frag…" Banshee said, going to load the regular blaster pack into the rifle.

"Banshee, let's go!" Davin's voice called from behind her.

She stole a glance over her shoulder, seeing the others gathered on the other side of the massive blast doors at the end of the hallway. She didn't know what they were doing, but she DID know she was not going to be able to hold back the incoming troops…

She broke her crouch and got to her feet to run to them, but a violent force of impact struck her from behind, and knocked her off her feet, throwing her forward to the deck. Her rifle skittered off to the side. She felt the throbbing, familiar pain of being shot by blaster rifle, centered in her shoulder, and tried to use her good hand to drag herself forward, resisting the urge to clutch at the wound. More blaster fire began to lance forward around her, and she dropped her head down, covering it and shouting in fear and fury simultaneously.

"Stupid, stupid, STUPID!" She shouted to herself.

She was going to die over a dumb mistake.

Plasma discharge popped and rattled off their locked blades, and Maven enjoyed the slight stagger from the Ren when she hit his weapon. She immediately elbowed him in the face, knocking his helmet to the side slightly, then did a back-bend, using the saber for support, and forcing it slightly further down into the floor as she vaulted over it, coming to land on the opposite side, putting it between her and the Knight. She then yanked it free using the momentum from her tumble, swung it behind her head, and delivered a massively powerful swing to the Knight's blade, which he'd brought around to defend with, but the block nearly pushed her foe's saber right into his own torso. Only a last second back-pedal saved him. He went on the offensive, swinging horizontally at Maven, knowing she wouldn't be able to get her weapon up fast enough to defend, but didn't count on her simply ducking under the swipe, and somersaulting behind him, swiping as she went. The blade cleaved through the Second Knight's armor, dropping a section of it to the floor in simmering heap, and the Knight cried out in pain, twisting away just before he would have lost his arm.

Just as Banshee was waiting for the inevitable execution shot that would end her life, she heard loud, clanking footsteps running toward her. She looked up and saw an Imperial Security droid rushing down the hall right at her, but of course knew it was Jed. He took a blaster bolt to the torso, but shrugged it off, and kept running. He took another to the arm, which blew it off at the elbow, but he ignored it, and jumped right over her, firing away with a repeater rifle that Waric had been toting with him. She looked back and saw that, although he was holding back the approaching squads with his repeater, they were still taking pot-shots around the corners… and hitting him.

He took blast after blast, staggering him backward each time. He turned, firing blindly at the troopers as he looked at her.

"Push yourself up!" He shouted, his voice wobbling and malfunctioning as a bolt hit him in the back of the head, cracking the housing of the helmet.

Banshee did as she was told, and shoved herself up with her one good arm, grunting in agony as she did. She saw him thrust his stump at her, and she suddenly launched off the ground, and spun through the air, shoved by The Force. As she spun, she caught a glimpse of Davin, arms outstretched, standing just inside the blast doors, and she collided with him. Hard.

Both fell to the deck in a heap, the blow softened by him catching her.

"Close it!" Davin ordered.

The blast doors slammed shut, cutting them off from the approaching troops.

Banshee sat up, looking back.

"Jed!" She shouted. "We can't just leave him-"

That was when she saw the second Imperial Security Droid standing just inside the doors, except Jed's smirking face greeted her in place of the featureless droid head.

"I appreciate the sentiment." Jed said, smirking.

"Ugh…" Banshee said, mixed relief and pain seeping into her tone as she let herself sag back down on top of Davin, not caring that she was likely crushing him.

Maven spun with the swing, extending the Lightsaber to point at the Knight before her. She smirked at him again.

"How dare you wield that saber against a Knight of Ren!" Her foe shouted, gripping his injured arm tightly as he backed away. "We are the instruments of his bloodline!"

"I was his student." She said, raising the saber up over her head and hunching down low to gather energy for a spring. "I wield his blade because it was given to me… I follow his true will… That of abandoning the Dark Side, and the Sith… You all worship a man whose final wish was not to be party to your ways…"

"Heresy!" The Knight shouted, and then rushed her.

She sprang into the air, the Lightsaber trailing behind her. She sailed over the Knight as he lunged and swiped with his saber, missing her completely and sending sparks flying up from the floor. His missed swing staggered him slightly, and Maven curled in the air once, twisting and coming down facing his back. She swung the saber in a downward motion, bringing the crimson blade right down through the top of the Knight's helmet, splitting it in two, and sending the two halves toppling to the ground. The Knight staggered again, the blade slipping out the back of his head, his hands lashed out blindly as he turned. His saber fell to the floor as he finally managed to face her, a line jutting down from the top of his head to the center of his face, still glowing from where she'd hacked into him.

"You…" He began, but that was all he could get out, and the Knight of Ren toppled to the floor, dead.

She was unable to savor the moment though, as a white hot pain suddenly shot through her right arm, and she cried out, twisting away from it. She fell to one knee, the Lightsaber still clutched uselessly in the grip of her injured arm. She grabbed her arm, the saber held up in front of her weakly as she saw the source of the blast; Kerec.

He had a furious, crazed look in his eyes as he approached, leveling the blaster at her forehead now.

"Die, you Imperial bitch!" He shouted.

Before he could squeeze off a shot though, another blast struck him from behind, taking out his hand, and sending his blaster flying through the air. Kerec clutched his wounded extremity, screaming in agony, and sprinted away from his downed foe as another blaster shot followed him, but went wide and missed.

Maven's gaze tracked the source of the shots, and she saw a First Order Stormtrooper step into view from the corner Kerec had emerged from. He'd obviously circled around using one of the side hallways along the hangar access corridor. The newcomer rushed over and offered a hand, pulling off his helmet with his free one, revealing himself to be Hermey Silitz.

"Glad you guys didn't shoot me." He mused.

Maven smirked in spite of the pain, and shot a glance toward where Kerec had gone, only to find he'd already disappeared down one of the side hallways. Maven's jaw tightened in irritation, but she shook it off, took Hermey's hand with her good one, and pulled herself up.

The Nerfherders took stock of their position. It was only a matter of time before the Knight cut his way in with the Lightsaber, or the squad circled around to the secondary hatch. They realized they were actually standing inside the hangar bay of the Super Star Destroyer hooked to the shipyard.

"Blast it…" Waric said. "We can't blow up the station if we're trapped on this beast full of enemy troops!"

"We can't go back, either…" Davin said, leading the way toward the turbolifts so they could get out of dodge before the ship was breached one of the two ways it could be. "So all that's left is onward."

Banshee clutched her arm close to her body, and suddenly paused, thinking. "Wait!" She said. "This ship is supposed to be fully functional, right?"

Davin paused, looking back at her. "Not the weapons systems. Those always go online last."

"Right, but the engines are still functional… and they have a hell of a lot of thrust to move a ship this big…"

Davin's eyes lit up as he got it. "And if there's enough thrust to knock those super weapons around… That's three big reactors that are likely to get pretty badly damaged in a wreck like that."

"Wow…" Waric said, imagining it. "Yeah, that'd about do it, I'd say."

"Running the calculations…" Jed said, punching the turbolift summoner. "I'd say that if we impact the weapons with the furthest most tip of the Star Destroyer, the resulting force and mass of the ship would be enough to buckle the frame of the other two ships, until of course they strike the shipyard… At which point the Destroyer itself will buckle, and the core would likely be damaged by the crushing impact between the engines and the weapons."

"So…" Waric said, trailing off.

"It's gonna blow up real good." Davin surmised.

Their plotting was cut off though, as the red blade of a Lightsaber burst through the blast doors they'd entered, and began slowly cutting its way in.

"Well let's not stand on ceremony then…" Waric said.

The rest of the team apparently shared that sentiment, as they all began to file into the turbolift as soon as it arrived.

The Imperial Stormtroopers rushed through the blast doors into the main hangar area of the Maw Installation, then provided cover fire for their comrades trying to make it through after them. The First Order troopers had been pushing them back, and now the hangar was the last point they could fall back to. If they had captured Kerec, they could use him as leverage if it came down to it… But Maven nor Daala wanted to win that way in any case. Their troops needed the victory. They needed to defeat these First Order pretenders.

The Imperial Stormtroopers rushed for cover behind loading vehicles for docked ships, and as the First Order Stormtroopers made their way in, doggedly pursuing their quarry, they were met by a rude surprise… On either side of the doorway stood Maven's bodyguard squad, shields out, blasters extended over the tops of them.

The First Order troopers fired and tried to fall back, but the bodyguard squad swarmed them from either side, bashing them with their shields and blasting them down to the floor. The remaining troops fell back, trying to get distance between them and the blaster-wielding, shield-protected, armored women. Another line of reinforcements suddenly appeared in the hallway though, pushing forward with sheer numbers.

As they drew nearer, the bodyguard squad was forced to fall back, using their shields as cover, they formed a wall against the barrage of blaster fire coming at them, using the energy shields to bounce the blasts back, and therefore slow down the First Order's advance slightly more. Maven and Daala huddled behind the bodyguard squad, taking pot-shots at the First Order Stormtroopers between the gaps of the shields. Hermey backed them up with his own rifle, but Maven frowned, looking over the situation.

"This won't last forever…" She said, turning to Hermey. "Get to those turbolifts and rejoin the Nerfherders. We have to ensure they reach their goal, and if there are as many troops up top as there are down here… It's not likely to be an easy fight."

"Any recommendations how I get past them?" Hermey asked sarcastically, motioning toward the First Order troops.

"You won't like it, but yes." She said, a slight smirk crossing her face.

A moment later, Hermey braced himself, once again wearing his helmet, and then shouted in surprise, as Maven grabbed hold of him with The Force. She whipped her arm forward like she was throwing a ball, and Hermey's stomach fluttered as he was flung into the air, clean over the line of bodyguards, and even over the line of First Order troops. He braced himself again, then struck the hangar deck hard, rolling once. He was soon yanked up off the ground by armored white hands, and dragged away from the battle, toward the lift corridor.

"Are you injured?" One of the troopers asked.

Hermey clutched his arm in faux pain, nodding. The Stormtrooper groaned in irritation and motioned toward the medical bay.

"Call up reinforcements and get yourself a splint, then get back here immediately."

"Yes sir." Hermey said, saluting with his good arm.

The two troopers that helped him up hurried back to the battle. Hermey scoffed and shook his head at how easy that had been, then got to his feet and immediately got into the turbolift to follow the Nerfherders up.

Maven turned and motioned for the Imperial Stormtroopers to reform into a tight-knit unit. Daala and Maven couldn't tell which one of them had more troops left, but at that point it didn't matter… They were all Imperials.

"Push forward!" Daala shouted, motioning ahead.

"Separate Phalanx!" Maven commanded her guard.

The bodyguard squad parted in the middle, still using their shields as cover, and the Imperial Stormtroopers rushed forward into the fray again, catching the First Order troopers off-guard. They soon recovered though, realizing what was happening, and did a charge of their own, trying to close the distance.

The two forces met in the middle, colliding with one-another violently. White armor clashed with white armor, blasters were fired or used as clubs. Electro batons and other melee weapons were drawn, and the fight raged furiously. Mavan and Daala threw themselves in as well, followed closely by the bodyguard squad, as well as Dahl and Kratas, firing wildly and utilizing impact batons for the closer of encounters within the fray.

The Nerfherders disembarked the turbolift, and found themselves on the main bridge, facing a crew of First Order personnel, prepping the ship for its engine test firing. The Order personnel froze as the Nerfherders entered, but soon they snapped out of it, and began scrambling for their sidearms. The Nerfherders didn't give them the chance, and opened fire, laying waste to the command bridge crew in only a few minutes time.

When the deed was finally done, and the bridge belonged to them, the group went to work quickly, trying to assess the controls and functions.

"Blast it, where's Hermey when you need him?" Davin said, looking over one of the consoles. "It looks KIND of familiar, but First Order tech is a lot different."

After struggling for awhile, the group managed to disengage the airlock connecting the ship to the facility, hoping they'd managed it before the Ren and his troops got through, but doubted it, considering how long it had taken.

"Get an idea of where the Stormtroopers are in the ship." Davin said to Jed.

Jed nodded, and accessed the security terminal, his electronic eye scanning the different camera displays faster than a human eye ever could have. Davin led Banshee to the guidance terminals, and sat her down in front of the manual control override.

"This is all you…" He said, motioning to the viewports. "I need you to fly the ship."

Banshee looked over the controls, then back at Davin. "You want me to pilot a massive warship BY MYSELF, with one good arm?"

Davin shrugged. "Not much choice, and honestly, if anyone could do it-"

She rolled her eyes and waved him off. "Yeah yeah…"

He smirked, and went over to Waric. "I need you on the security terminal once Jed is done with it." He said. "Keep the security doors closed to cut off personnel from other sections from reaching us."

"Got it, boss." Waric said.

Jed turned to Davin. "There are approximately 40 Stormtroopers now onboard this ship." He explained. "Along with 30 additional personnel who were running system checks in various areas of the ship. Only a handful of them are within traveling distance of the bridge in an amount of time that would make them pose a threat to us."

Davin nodded. "Alright, you and Waric get those doors shut, and then you come join me…"

"Doing what?" Jed asked.

His answer came in the form of a harsh, buzzing sound of electrical discharge, and Davin knew the First Order had reached the blast doors to the bridge.

"Helping me kill all these guys…" Davin said anyway.

Pallaeon rushed down the corridor, his personal Stormtrooper guard keeping pace with him. Alarms were still blaring, and people rushed to and fro, trying to figure out a way to be useful in this crisis. Pallaeon reached the command bridge for the Maw Installation, and found a First Order Major standing there.

"Where is General Kerec?" Pallaeon demanded.

"Apologies, Admiral…" The Major said, looking very nervous. "We don't exactly know… He was last spotted engaging in the battle against the invading force."

Pallaeon swore under his breath, but then, as he stood there, watching the youthful First Order soldiers rush about in chaos and panic… He realized something.

They weren't ready.

The First Order was not ready for war. They'd all been trained and equipped, and taught what to do, and how to do it, but they all had no experience in war, or the ways of it… Not really anyway. Pallaeon suddenly recalled the Knights of Ren, and how he'd been feeling all this time, except when he was alone… It all began to click for him as his old confidence and authority began to return to him now… He'd been had.

"Private." He said, addressing his guards. "Relieve the Major of his duties… I'll be taking control of the bridge."

"What?" The Major said. "You have no-"

"Authority?" Pallaeon said, venom in his tone. "Watch your mouth, soldier… You are addressing an Admiral, and at this time, The First Order has already recruited me into their numbers, with my full rank and privileges… So you are hereby relieved of command."

The bodyguards man-handled him toward the exit, ignoring his protests and angry cries. Pallaeon approached the deck officer, hoping he wasn't too late. "Order a surrender."

CHAPTER XIV: Final Confrontation

Davin and Jed stood next to one another, Jed ignited one Lightsaber with a 'snap-hiss!' of yellow energy, and held it diagonally in front of him, his blaster clutched in the other hand, aimed toward the blast door being slowly but surely cut through. Davin knew that they were also hacking the door lock, but one way or another… That door was coming down.

The ship suddenly shuddered as the engines came online for the first time, and the brand new stabilizers had to catch up to their new function. They did so remarkably fast, and the ship steadied, moving along silently and slowly. Davin then picked up a pair of E-11 blaster rifles from dead troopers they'd pushed off to one side on the bridge. He switched them to rapid fire mode, knowing it would eat the power packs faster, but also knowing that the battle wouldn't be long… Just fierce.

The two men stood in front of the door, waiting for the inevitable.

"Did I ever apologize to you?" Davin asked as they waited.

Jed looked over at him, frowning in confusion. "Not that I've ever heard you SINCERELY apologize for anything… but what for?"

"For the falling out we had." Davin said, looking over at him as well. "I know it was my fault."

Jed looked ahead, blinking a few times, his cybernetic eye whirring as he did. "I understood what was going on back then, and I still do now. No apology needed." He said.

Davin nodded, then raised his weapon, getting ready.

Jed smirked. "It's appreciate though, because it was indeed your fault."

There was a loud, violent 'POP!' and a spark of igniting carbon, and the security panel erupted in flames, heralding the door opening a moment later.

Before the smoke even cleared, blaster fire began to pour in, and Jed immediately went to work deflecting it with his Lightsaber, returning fire with his blaster. Davin did the same, staying behind Jed and his deflecting saber, leaning around him to take shots where he could. Just as quickly as the assault began though, the blaster fire suddenly stopped altogether. Jed and Davin halted their fire as well, waiting anxiously to see what the other side was playing at.

"What are you talking about?" The Knight demanded.

"We received a cease fire order, sir." The trooper responded. "Direct from Admiral Pallaeon."

"Admiral Pallaeon is not in charge of this operation, commander…" The Knight said, his voice getting darker and more severe as he argued the point. "Furthermore, I am standing before you right now, and if I were you, I would be FAR more concerned with incurring MY wrath than the disapproval of your superiors…"

The trooper shifted uncomfortably, looking around him at his fellow soldiers for support. None came.

"But sir-"

The Knight thrust forth his hand, and the trooper flew backwards, slamming against the wall of the corridor. He landed in a heap on the floor, and the other soldiers jumped in shock. They'd obviously seen this kind of behavior from the Knight before, but it didn't take the impact out of it when it occurred.

"Get back into the battle." The Knight commanded. "Now."

Something had changed though, the troopers hesitated for what seemed like a long time. The Knight reached out and invaded their thoughts, searching for what was going on, and how best to manipulate them into continuing to fight on. What he saw though, gave him pause. Programmed as they were, the soldiers had been living in fear of the Nerfherders for many months now, and fighting them close-up had taken its toll on them mentally. Now, getting orders for a cease-fire seemed like far too good of an opportunity to escape with their lives and body parts intact…

"Sir…" Another trooper said, prompting the Knight to snap around to face him. "We… We've been ordered to cease fire… Maybe we should do as our orders dictate."

The Knight's rage built to a crescendo, and he yanked his Lightsaber from his belt, igniting it with a 'snap-hiss!' that bathed the corridor in crimson red glow. The troopers all backed away, terrified of what he might do. The Knight angrily slashed through a nearby power box, showering the men with sparks and shattered metal and plastic. Without another word, he shoved the troopers aside with The Force, and stalked toward the forced open blast doors.

"Fine…" He said, slashing the saber through the air in frustration. "I'll do it myself."

Davin and Jed were just about to make a move for the door, but then they saw the red glow approaching through the thin layer of smoke from the exploded door lock. Davin immediately stepped far enough from Jed, and hit the switch on his amulet, putting up his Force bubble, but making sure to leave Jed with room so his own abilities weren't compromised.

Jed put his blaster away, and unhooked his second saber from his arm, activing it just as the red blade wielding Knight of Ren emerged through the smoke. Next to him, Davin tossed aside the E-11's and pulled his Vibro knife out, extending it. Jed looked at his companion's weapon, knew it was inferior to their foe's Lightsaber, and sighed.

"Davin…" He said, causing his comrade to look at him. "Here."

He killed the second Lightsaber, and tossed it into the air. Davin caught it with his free hand, giving Jed a questioning look, but Jed just nodded, and got into a defensive stance. Davin looked down at the saber hilt in his hand, and took a breath. The entire exchange took only a moment, but Davin's mind raced as he quieted it.

He had rejected even the modest amount that he could sense of The Force that day his wife had screamed for him through it, and he felt her die… Now though, looking back at the reign of terror they'd caused throughout the First Order over the months they been active, he realized that he hadn't simply been trying to get revenge for his family… He was punishing The Force itself for trying to be with him. He was doing as many horrible things as he could, knowing it would resonate through The Force just as with the physical world…

He had been attacking The Force itself.

As the Knight stalked toward them though, he realized that if he continued down that path, he'd be no better than one of these evil foot soldiers… Fighting for the other side, but a foot soldier no less. A Stormtrooper.

He reached up, and de-activated the medallion around his neck, killing the anti-Force bubble around him, and ignited the Lightsaber. The white-yellow blade seared into existence before him, and he assumed a defensive stance just as Jed had. His quieted mind expanded as his unused, but still very much active meditative abilities came to life once more. He felt the slight tingling in his mind; The Force was there, and though he could not command it the way a Jedi could… It would always be there as a source of strength and guidance.

He thought about Maven, and her words about The Force… No light. No dark. People will make of The Force what they will. Peace and Passion were not enemies, and therefore The Force could not be an enemy of itself.

Time returned to normal as the Knight finally reached them, and Jed lunged forward, locking sabers with his opponent. Davin lunged as well, and the Knight back-pedaled off the saber lock, staggering Jed forward. The Knight spun away from Jed and swung his blade at Davin, who blocked the strike, as well as two other quick strikes. The Knight shoved his hand toward Davin, sending him flying backward with a Force push. However, he felt another Force shove from behind him, and knew it was Jed, even as the cyborg leapt back into the fray.

Jed engaged the Knight in a flurry of elegant, calculated attacks, which countered the Knight's own chaotic, vicious moves. He deflected several violent slashes, but undid their momentum rather than trying to absorb the blows, and twisted around, delivering a slash that raked up the Knight's shoulderblade, cracking his armor and sending him jumping clear before serious damage was done. His armor was smoking now as he skidded across the surface and spun around to face Jed once more.

Davin took advantage of the distraction though, and rushed toward him. The Knight turned just in time, blocking Davin's initial strike, but Davin executed a move known as the 'falling leaf' attack. He leapt up, and performed a downward slash, forcing his foe to move to a blocking position for that, but then abandoned the force of the attack, letting his blade glance off his enemy's blade, and then used the momentum of the deflection to twist the blade over and around his body, slashing back upward, at this enemy's undefended body. The slash struck his foe's forearm, and the Knight cried out in pain, spinning away.

Davin expected another retreat move, as the Knight had shown in the past, but instead, the Ren pushed forward, rushing Davin again, slashing horizontally, and Davin had to move quick to block the blow. Unfortunately, the Knight had the power of the dark side with him, and once again seized at Davin with it. Davin felt the death clutch in his throat, and his airflow was cut off instantly. He uselessly grabbed of his neck, trying to keep the saber up and between him and his enemy. The Knight kept coming though, batting aside the Lightsaber in his hand, and slashing at Davin's torso.

Davin managed to throw himself to the side, even while still unable to breath, and the blow was merely a glancing one, but it still cleaved the shoulder bell of his armor off, and scorched his flesh beneath. Had he been able to breath, he would have howled in pain.

Suddenly though, the clenching on his throat was gone, and he anxiously sucked air back in once more, his lungs burning from their time without it. He looked and saw Jed battling the Knight furiously once more, their sabers striking and spinning around one another like insects battling in mid-air. Davin tried to get up, but his vision swam from the assault by the Knight. Jed held his own, and very nearly ended the fight three times with his expert swordsmanship in the face of his enemy's relentless power-based attacks.

Unfortunately, The Knight resorted to unpredictability once more. He actually allowed one of Jed's swift but physically weak blows to connect with his chest armor, bouncing it off as it wrecked the plating. The Knight grunted in pain as his flesh beneath was burned, but he ignored it, channeling the dark side through himself heavily, and he slammed his shoulder into Jed's chest, driving him backwards into the wall behind him. He then rammed his Lightsaber straight into the durasteel chest plate of Jed's torso. Jed threw his head back and let out an electronic-laced howl of pain.

Waric and Banshee, trying to focus on their tasks, suddenly could not sit by any longer. "Go!" Banshee said. "I've got this."

Waric grabbed for his beam cannon, and climbed up to the command walkway where the battle was taking place. He activated his cannon and opened fire, raking laser across the wall toward the Knight. However, his target was too quick for that, and he ducked underneath the strafing attack, yanked his saber free, grabbed Jed, and hurled him right at Waric. The pirate had to cease fire or risk hitting Jed, and then was thrown off his feet by the impact of the cyborg.

Davin, once again taking advantage of the distraction, leapt right onto the Knight's back, jerking on the lip of his helmet, and yanking on it as hard as he could. He felt the resistance from the seam beneath, and heard something pop from the force of his pull, but the Knight thrust his back toward the wall, slamming Davin between it and himself. Davin grunted in pain, and his grip loosened. Davin ignited the Lightsaber, and wrapped his other arm around the Knight's neck, trying to pull the blade into his face mask. The Knight grabbed Davin's wrists, matching his strength, and keeping the energy beam from reaching him. He moved forward, and slammed Davin against the wall once again, and Davin couldn't hold on any longer.

The Knight activated his own saber in between the dangerously small gap between his face mask and Davin's blade, and shoved forward, sending the Lightsaber flying from his grip. Davin yanked his medallion off, and wrapped the band around the Knight's neck, trying to choke him with it. The move was useless though, as the Knight bent forward and hurled Davin over his shoulders, sending him rolling across the deck. The Knight ignited his saber once more, but Waric blasted at him once again, forcing him to raise his blade to block the sustained beam weapon, which was no easy task, even for a Lightsaber.

The energy from the sustained beam hit the saber and splashed across the deck, scorching everything it touched. The edges of the Knight's great coat and armor were sizzled in dozens of spots, areas of his mask scorched and smoked, and his gloves began to burn as well. The Knight suddenly twisted, yanked his blade free, and the beam blasted past him, hitting the wall. He then lunged at Waric, and slashed right through the dish portion of his weapon, killing it permanently. Waric hurled the heavy, dead weapon into the Knight, and detached it from the power pack on his back. He drew his sawed-off blaster rifle from the hip holster he had it in, and fired, sending a spray of carbon bolts at the Knight. His armor and heavy garments absorbed most of the damage, but the force of impact caused him to back-pedal.

It was only a short-lived distraction though, and the Knight came at him once more, relentlessly. He raised his Lightsaber and Waric tried to jump back, but the weight of his pack caused him to topple over into a sitting position. Davin suddenly appeared, his Lightsaber in hand, and blocked the powerful strike. Davin and the Knight entered a saber lock, both weakened from the fight, but no-less determined.

"You are all animals!" The Knight shouted, his mask only inches away from Davin's face, the nearly blinding light of their sabers separating them. "I will slaughter you as such! All those who follow The Force and do not join us must be cleansed!"

Suddenly, a blaster bolt split through the air, and struck the Knight's helmet, knocking his head to the side, leaving a dent in the helmet. Though their heads had only been inches apart, Banshee had made the shot off-handed, from across the bridge, then returned to her task of piloting the massive Destroyer.

The Knight pushed off, hurling himself away, clutching his masked head in pain. Smoke drifted off the dented, slightly cracked surface of his helmet, matching the rest of his badly scorched body. Davin knew he wouldn't be stopped for long, so he lunged forward, thrusting the saber toward his face plate for the kill. The Knight lashed out with his hand though, and Davin felt his arm lock in place. He fought against the force grip, his arm moving ever-so-slightly, and the Knight strained his body visibly as he tried to maintain the focus required for such an advanced Force ability. Inanimate objects were easy, as they had no will of their own to fight back with, but a living thing, with determination and strength, was very hard for a Force user to control. Both men grunted and strained, but Davin was no match for The Force, in spite of how close the blade's tip was to the Knight's face plate.

"Weak." The Knight said through sputtering, strain-induced sounds. "You will… Never be a Jedi…"

Just as the words came forth though, the blade of Davin's Lightsaber suddenly shot forward, extending to twice its previous length, and pierced the Knight's helmet, right through the horizontal slits covering his eyes. The Knight tensed up, and his arm fell limply to his side, releasing Davin from his Force grip. Davin cried out in relief, and looked down to find that Jed had crawled over to him and attached his second saber to the base of the one Davin was holding, extending it into the Odachi setting.

Davin yanked the saber back, and killed the blade, letting the Knight fall to the ground. At first, they all thought he'd been killed, but soon he started to writhe and his hands struggled with his helmet. The group ignored him, and Waric and Davin helped Jed to his feet. The cyborg was malfunctioning badly with each step he took, but he was still alive.

"You run a diagnostic yet?" Davin asked, helping him to one of the chairs in the crew pit, nearby Banshee's pilot station.

He nodded. "My lung was damaged… The other is still functioning at one hundred percent, but the damage to my cybernetic components is substantial."

"How substantial?" Waric asked.

"I will be hobbling until proper repairs can be made." Jed said, clearly irritated.

"So… Not gonna die though, right?" Davin asked.

Jed shook his head. "Of course not. It would take considerably more than a single impaling to destroy my processor." He said, tapping the side of his head.

Davin smirked and patted him on his metallic shoulder. "Good man."

"Guys…" Banshee said, indicating the viewports ahead. "I brought us around finally."

The group all looked out of the viewport, and saw the facility and the docked super weapons dead ahead. Banshee looked to Davin, and shrugged.

"Well, call it." She said.

Davin nodded and shrugged. "Uh… Ramming speed, I guess."

She raised the thruster throttle as high as it would go, and fixed the course for a collision trajectory. When that was done, she picked up her stool, and smashed it down on the controls, destroying them. She also picked up her pistol and blasted it a few times for good measure.

"Alright, time to go." Davin said. "Waric, help me get him up." He added, grabbing Jed under one robotic arm.

The two lifted him up, Banshee unable to assist due to her injured arm. As soon as they reached the command deck, Hermey arrived, looking around at all the dead troopers, and the barely moving Knight of Ren on the floor.

"Well, you guys seemed to do okay without me…" He said.

"How the blazes did you get in here?" Davin asked, not stopping their movement.

"I… walked?" Hermey asked, confused. "Well, mostly I ran. Why?"

"No Stormtroopers?" Banshee asked.

"Nah, I passed some on my way in, but they were all on their way to the escape pods."

The group stopped. "The escape pods…" Waric said. "How many troops were there?"

"Uh… dozens it looked like." Hermey said. "Why?"

Then he saw where they were headed. "Oh… Poodoo."

"Yeah…" Davin said.

They all moved quickly for the exit, hoping they could reach the escape pods before the Stormtroopers could take them all. Before they could leave the bridge though, they all were suddenly yanked off their feet, and knocked to the floor in a pile.

Behind them, the Knight screamed in unrestrained rage, yanking them towards him, reaching for his dropped Lightsaber with his free hand.

"Jed!" Davin said, struggling to free himself, but as the others were discovering, the death throes of the Ren were far too strong, too empowered by the dark side to stop.

Jed tried to push back, but it only slowed them very slightly. "I can't…" He said, straining. "I'm… too weak…"

"My amulet!" Davin said, suddenly remembering. "He's got it tied around his throat!"

Jed released his resistance against the pull of the dark side, and jabbed out his hand once more, focusing his entire strength on the small little switch on the miniscule amulet hanging from the Ren's neck. The switch pressed and the amulet activated, and just like that, they all fell to the deck in a heap once more. The Ren, cut off from his dark side fuel source, collapsed to the deck again, panting hard, and groaning in pain.

Davin grunted, clearly irritated, and got to his feet. "I've had enough…" He said, stalking over to the downed Knight.

He snatched up the Ren's Lightsaber from the deck, a few feet from his hand, where it had landed. "This is mine now." He said. "I was going to just leave it for you to die with it, but I want you to go with the knowledge that it now belongs to a low-down heretic like me…"

With that, he stuffed the saber into his belt, and returned to the others, hurrying off the bridge to their (hopeful) escape.

The Knight struggled, trying to get the amulet, but the agony was too much, and without the dark side to push him, he couldn't muster the strength to grab hold of it. He felt his body growing cold, and knew the end was near…

The Nerfherders reached the row of escape pods and their hearts simultaneously sank as they realized that all had been jettisoned… They were trapped on a ship locked onto a crash course.

"Maven!" Davin said, yanking his comm link from his belt. "Nyrakis, come in!" He said, pacing impatiently.

"Creel?" Her voice responded. "You all still alive?"

"Not for long…" He mused. "You got a ship handy? We need pickup from the Super Star Destroyer, it's about to smash into the shipyard, and we've got no escape pods to get out of here with."

"Blast it…" Her voice replied. "Hold on."

"Sure, take your time…" Banshee said sarcastically, leaning against the wall, trying not to bleed to death.

"Davin… We don't have any ships ready to fly that could reach you in time… The Destroyer is on our screens now, and you've only got two minutes, at most."

"Creel!" Another voice suddenly shouted.

"Who's this?" Davin inquired.

"This is Admiral Pallaeon of the Imperial High Command."

"Don't you mean The First Order?" Maven spat back. "What do you want, traitor?"

"Can you two not bicker while the last seconds of our lives tick away?!" Davin demanded.

"Get to the hangar, immediately!" Pallaeon shouted.

"There's no ships there…" Davin said, but motioned for the others to start moving anyway. "I'm hoping you know something we don't…"

"Your ship!" Pallaeon shouted. "It's in the secondary hangar, suspended just above the drop zone."

"How? Why?" Davin demanded as the group hobble-ran for the hangars.

"The Knights towed it in after their fight with you at the scrap yard, and stashed it there!" He explained. "They wanted to bring it on the ship's maiden voyage and present it to their leaders as a trophy."

"Well isn't that just convenient for us…" Davin said, putting away the comm link.

With only half a minute to go, the group burst through the doors of the hangar, and spotted The Inglourious, exactly where Pallaeon had said it was.

"Jed, you gotta drop the ramp!" Davin said, then sprinted ahead of his injured companions.

Jed strained and tried to focus, seeking out the ramp mechanism with The Force, finding it a moment later. He groaned with his weakened constitution, but finally, the ramp hissed and dropped down over the emptiness between the hangar and the outside vacuum of space.

"Davin you can't make that jump!" Banshee insisted.

He ignored her, tossing his gear aside, and leapt off the edge of the hangar platform. For a moment, his gut tightened up as he was suspended between hard surface and hard surface… With nothing but the cold, deadly vacuum of space below him, beyond a ray shield that he would either be disintegrated by, or burn his way through, and freeze to death outside almost instantly.

He was relieved by the hard, painful impact of his chest against the edge of the platform though. He dug his fingers into the grating of the ramp, and held tight, summoning up the last of his strength to pull himself up. It wasn't quite enough though.

"Come on!" He shouted to himself.

Suddenly, a shape passed directly over him, and Banshee hit the ramp hard, crying out in pain and clutching her injured arm tighter. She reached down with her good arm, grabbing hold of him, and pulling him hard by his hair.

"OOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!" Davin cried in protest, but it worked.

On the ramp now, the two of them gasped for breath.

"I'm an Arkanian!" She shouted. "My physical athleticism is genetically engineered to be better than yours, idiot!" She smacked him in the back of the head.

Their sparring was cut off though, as the entire ship groaned and shuttered violently. Outside, the Destroyer had struck the Galaxy Gun, the first in the row of targets, and the entire area began to shriek and groan with the sounds of grinding metal and twisting hull. Alarms began to sound, and lights began to flash, and The Inglourious shook in its harness. Davin and Banshee got to their feet and sprinted through the main deck, reaching the stairs, and pounded up them to the controls.

"We have MAYBE a minute before the ship loses pressurization…" Davin said.

"I'm aware, genius…" She shot back.

"Look it was damn heroic, okay?" Davin said, motioning toward the back. "Plus, I kind of DID make the jump, if you wanna get technical…"

She didn't.

The ship shook violently again, and something above began to shatter. Banshee fired the landing thrusters and motioned to Davin. "Now!" She said.

Davin hit the hangar release, and the ship was dropped from the cradle above them. The cradle suddenly fell, striking the top of the hull, and pushing it down towards the open vacuum, clearly the sound they'd heard was one of the supports for the cradle being destroyed by the entire ship twisting.

"Blast it!" Davin said. "Take the controls!"

He got up, rushing back down the hallway toward the ramp, yanking a loading dolly cable as he went. He reached the ramp and hurled the dolly out the back. It collided with the hangar deck next to the others, and they all piled on without prompting.

"HOLD ON!" Davin shouted.

He made an educated guess as to the others' combined weight, punched double the amount into the calibrator, then hit the retraction switch. The dolly was yanked toward the ship, utilizing the force necessary for double its current weight, thus resulting in a much powerful yank of momentum. Davin had to dive for cover as the heavy, fast-moving durasteel mover slammed into the ship deck, dumping the others off. Without missing a beat, Waric rolled over and slapped the ramp switch.

"GO!" Davin screamed as loud as he could toward the cockpit, even before the ramp was closed.

Banshee hit the throttle, and shoved the control wheel forward. The ship dove straight down out of the hangar at full speed.

Then the ship exploded.

The destruction of the shipyard, two super weapons and the Super Star Destroyer were cataclysmic, and incredible to watch. The sight was viewed by Maven, Daala, Pallaeon and their support staff, from the relative safety of the main facility, which they'd detached from the shipyard as soon as Creel had called. The station would incur heavy damage from the explosion and debris field afterward, but it would last long enough to support a full evacuation at a relaxed, thorough pace. The Nerfherders weren't heard from afterward, so none of the Imperials were sure whether or not they'd made it out. Either way, the deed had been done… The First Order would not be getting their hands on any of the weapons from the Maw Installation. Maybe it was inevitable that they would get one eventually, but the Imperials took comfort in knowing that they'd slowed down their plot, and that when it eventually did happen… It wouldn't be with help from the current Empire.

CHAPTER XV: Aftermath

Maven and Daala stood side-by-side as the last of their ships left the Maw Installation. The shipyard's power supply had been exhausted maintaining force fields to cover the hull breaches, and as the final ships had set out from it, the lights were beginning to flicker. Daala knew her facility well, and knew that the lights would go first, then the mechanical amenities, then lastly, the life support would die off.

Leaving the first time had been a frustrating and confusing series of events, which she had come to understand was due to the mind prodding efforts of the Knights of Ren who had perished during the battle. This time though… It was bittersweet. Her mentor, the man she respected above all else, had assigned her to protect and watch over this facility, and now, watching it get further and further away as The Gorgon made its way out of the system, where it would rendezvous with The Stormbreaker and drop off Maven… She felt a twang of sadness. It had been a great deal of her life.

However, she took solace in the fact that she'd found a renewed purpose. Maven had assured her that she would be welcomed to the proper Empire with open arms, and that the Republic would never find out that she had been behind the hit-and-fade missions against them… She would never have to wonder who's side she was on again.

Maven looked upon the whole experience as an achievement for everything she'd been working toward these last ten years. Fighting off the envoys of the First Order from convincing the council to side with them… Shaking their agents and the surveillance they kept over her all that time… She'd dealt them a blow. They all had. Her forces knew they could take them if they had to, and though open war wouldn't be declared, lest it draw the attention of the Republic, the First Order had been sent a message… The Empire would not bow to them.

As for the Nerfherders, they hadn't re-appeared after the destruction of the superweapons, and had been so preoccupied by the evacuation that they hadn't had time to conduct a search. She glanced over to the scanning technicians, who she had assigned to look for signs of life, in case they'd made it to their ship and were adrift, and knew they hadn't found anything.

"Admiral." The navigator piped up. "Course has been set, we are now ready to leave the maw cluster."

Daala shot a glance to Maven, who sighed slightly, then nodded. They couldn't just wait around, there were things to do.

Daala nodded back, then turned to the navigator. "Move out."

The churning, steaming liquid in the cauldron gave off a distinct, colorless glow that seemed to pulsate slightly. Davin checked the temperature, and the timer he had set to make sure it had been long enough, the nodded to Jed, sitting across from him. Jed extended his hand and from within the churning liquid, rose a crimson red crystal, turning slightly as the alchemical mixture Davin had brewed dripped off of it. As the two watched, the red colorization of the crystal changed, a glow began to emanate from within, and as it grew brighter, the color began to fade, revealing a neutral, silver-white glow that glowed through the now translucent silver crystal. The last of the red faded completely, leaving a bare, neutral Kyber Crystal behind.

Davin reached out, plucking it from the air, and turning it over in his hands. The previous owner, the Knight of Ren, had either gotten hold of a poorly cut crystal, or hadn't done a very good job re-cutting it himself when he'd used it to build his Lightsaber, the hilt of which was now disassembled and strewn across Davin's work bench in many pieces. Davin smirked, and without looking away from the now-flawlessly cut crystal, slid the alchemical mixture off the burner, making room for another container of liquid, which he slid onto the burner in its place. The mixture began to bubble and churn just as its predecessor, but as it did, it gave off a clover green glow, which began to pulsate. When the pulsation stabilized, Davin dropped the crystal into the mixture with a dull 'plop'.

As soon as it submerged, Davin reached to his left, gathering several parts he'd assembled over the last few days, and held them in front of him. He took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly, trying to quiet his mind. Across from him, Jed reached his hand out once more, toward Davin this time, and Davin could feel The Force gathering around them. He couldn't reach out and touch it as Jed could, but he knew it was there. He felt it whisper to him, telling him of the crystal in the mixture he'd made, allowing it to connect with him. Jed's facilitation had worked, and the link was successful. He closed his eyes, and nodded his head slightly, signaling for Jed to retrieve the crystal. He extended his other hand, and the crystal emerged once more, now a dark green color, and it floated through the air toward Davin's hands. The temptation to open his eyes was great, he wanted to see if the crystal had come out right, if it had any imperfections, or even where it was in relation to him… But he had to trust it, and The Force.

He raised the pieces in his hands, and slowly drew them together, the cylindrical shapes fitting perfectly into one-another, as they'd been made to. Davin obviously couldn't SEE it happen, but he felt the crystal click into place between the power cells and the focusing chamber walls in the center of the saber hilt. He smirked a bit, then twisted the saber, locking the body. Finally, Davin opened his eyes and looked down at the silver tube in his hand, the familiar shape of his mentor's destroyed Lightsaber greeted him, and he immediately went to work attaching the final pieces. The grips, the pommel cover, the beam adjustment buttons… They all fit back into place perfectly.

He examined the newly constructed Lightsaber one final time, the double-sized handle was a powerful two-handed weapon, perfect for Davin's height and reach. He stood up, taking another breath, nervousness in it this time, and held the saber hilt aloft. He glanced at Jed once more, and the other looked back at him, nodding confidently, his cybernetic eye whirring and focusing on him, then on the saber hilt.

Davin pressed the activation switch and there was a sharp 'snap-hiss!' sound as the blade sprang into existence. The smell of ozone filled the room, and they were instantly bathed in white-green light from the Lightsaber in Davin's hand. He reached out with his other hand, holding it close to the blade to make sure it didn't give off any excessive amounts of heat, then withdrew it, swinging the saber a few times to test the new weight…

"It is light, but has weight…" He said to himself quietly, echoing the words of his mentor years ago when he'd first shown the Lightsaber to Davin. "Wielding it is no different."

Davin stared into the glow of the blade before him, and felt a tingling in his hand, which spread up his arm and into his chest, quickly rising to his head, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

He had done it.

"Not bad for a non-Jedi…" Jed commented, standing up with a click-clack of his cybernetic limbs.

"Thanks, tin man." Davin mused, smirking at him.

Footsteps preceded Banshee as she entered the room, and she hesitated, taking a moment to admire the green-white glowing sight before her. Though Davin wasn't a proper Jedi by any stretch of the imagination, she could think of worse people to wield a Lightsaber.

"We're coming up on the destination." She said after a time.

Davin turned, nodding to her. "Thanks." He said. "Let's just hope the information is right."

She nodded in agreement, then headed back up to the cockpit to rejoin Waric.

"Think this is the place?" Jed asked.

"Where my family died?" Davin finished his thought. Jed nodded, but Davin shook his head. "Doesn't feel like it… But it's one of their work camps… and that's enough for now."

He powered down the Lightsaber, clipped it to his belt, and walked over to the lounge, retrieving his battered, but reliable armor. He slung it over his head, fastened it in place, slid the forearm gauntlets on, and tightened them.

"Alright." He said, taking a breath. "Let's go smash some more bucket-heads." He said, grabbing his vibro bat from the table.

THE END


End file.
